AT&T has announced their plan for a web based television service dubbed AT&T Broadband TV. Man, that is a dull name. For $19.99 a month broadband users will be able to watch 20 channels, reportedly including FOX News and The Weather Channel, through their browsers. No word on what the system requirements will be. As more and more content providers move to the web, this isn't an unexpected move by AT&T. However, considering that there are more and more options every day, for $20 I think they are going to have to come up with a lot more than FOX News and The Weather Channel to build any kind of a user base. Now, if users could customize their own 20 channel feed from those offered with AT&T Homezone, they might be on to something. Any interest from TV Squad readers in web-based TV?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-12-2006 @ 2:58PM
Mariah said...
If I could customize those 20 channels, I would subscribe in a second and watch online without complaint. I hate paying close to $100 for channels I'll never watch. I'll risk problems with the netcast to only pay for channels I wants.
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9-12-2006 @ 3:04PM
Jay said...
Doesn't Sling offer a low cost one payment alternative to the AT&T play? Although the user interface for AT&T might be easier to use then the Sling box.
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9-12-2006 @ 4:22PM
Scott Selva said...
Any interest? Well, not for $20/month. I'm supposed to pay that much and watch it on my small monitor? Maybe if I traveled a lot and used wi-fi hotspots and wanted TV anywhere...
But, yeah, a Slingbx or a Sony Location Free player would be a better way to go.
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10-08-2006 @ 1:52PM
Sidney Reilly said...
I found the system requirements:
https://att.mobitv.com/do/faq
Seems pretty innocuous - looks like IE 6, Windows Media Player 9 and Flash 7.0 so should work fine for any XP user.
You're not wrong that it's a stretch for $19.99 with just 20 channels. However if they added channels and did the a la carte that Mariah mentioned so I don't have to pay for what I don't watch then $19.99 would start to look cheap.
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