Food Network, HGTV among Channels removed from AT&T U-verse Menu

Chicago Tribune

Millions of AT&T Inc.'s U-verse video customers lost access to the Food Network and HGTV after it couldn't reach a deal with Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. over distribution fees.

AT&T pinned the blame on Scripps, saying in a statement Friday that the programming provider "won't provide a fair deal for AT&T customers" and is "punishing viewers for leverage in programming negotiations."

But Scripps Networks, which also owns the Cooking Channel and DIY Network, claims Dallas-based AT&T refused an extension of the contract, which expired early Friday.

AT&T had 2.7 million U-verse subscribers at the end of the third quarter. The company said U-verse is available to more than a million households in the Chicago area.

Tribune Co., parent company of the Chicago Tribune, owns a stake in the Food Network and Cooking Channel.

The number of programming blackouts this year between content owners and distributors has escalated to the highest level in at least a decade. TV providers, like AT&T, are trying to stem rising programming costs, which are typically passed on to consumers, in a weak economic environment. Programmers are trying to maximize their distribution and content fees.

AT&T said Scripps is demanding it pay more than double what its competitors pay for the same programming.

Scripps denies the claim, saying the "impasse is not about money" and that the two parties came to an agreement in principle before their deadline.

"We are shocked and disappointed that AT&T would rather deprive its customers of fan favorites" than "continue to negotiate in good faith," Scripps said in a statement Friday.

The president of the Food Network also expressed disappointment over Friday's developments.

"This came out of left field," Brooke Johnson told the Tribune. "We had reached an agreement on economics," she said, referring to the fees that U-verse would pay to air the channels on television and as part of its video-on-demand service.

Scripps said it had asked for more time to negotiate the use of video in new media.

"We mutually agreed on two (negotiation) extensions, and we had offered to even extend the previous terms until the end of the year," Johnson said.

The problem, Johnson said, is that Scripps did not want to sign away rights to its programming on various non-TV platforms without specifics from U-verse.

"They are asking for broad, unlimited distribution on nonlinear platforms that go well beyond emerging media technologies," Johnson said.

A spokesman for AT&T declined to comment further, referring the Tribune to its earlier statement: "We've been working for weeks to reach a fair deal, but they didn't hold up to what had been agreed upon verbally, leaving us without the rights to offer these channels.

"We apologize to our customers who've been affected by this. We want to keep these channels on, at a fair price for you."

Increased use of video on the Web and mobile platforms represents new territory for programmers like Scripps and providers like U-verse. While Internet video services like Hulu and Netflix Streaming have wide popularity, their offerings are typically not comprehensive.

As for where this leaves consumers, Johnson said, "Our request is to turn on (the channels) and go back to the negotiating table."

Is AT and T Losing It?

PC World

On the heels of AT&T's disastrous attempts to fight back against Verizon's clever "there's a map for that" ad campaign (Luke Wilson? Is that all you got?) comes more bad news for those who've hitched their smartphones to Ma Bell's wagon.

In a speech to a tech conference this week, AT&T suit Ralph de la Vega hinted that his employer is considering plans to bring home more bacon by  -- making its wireless subscribers (i.e., iPhone owners) pay by the megabyte or live with bandwidth caps.

"The first thing we need to do is educate customers about what represents a megabyte of data and...we're improving systems to give them real-time information about their data usage. Longer term, there's got to be some sort of pricing scheme that addresses the [heavy] users.... We are going to make sure incentives are in place to reduce or modify [data] uses so they don't crowd out others in the same cell sites."

So, to recap: The only reason to pick AT&T as your wireless provider is the iPhone. In virtually every consumer survey, it lands at the bottom of the heap. It already charges an arm, a leg, and other vital bodily parts for a mandatory "unlimited" data plan. Now it wants to charge by the megabyte and/or put in bandwidth caps.

Why is the world's largest telecom being such a total asshat? Apparently it's doing everything it can to win the Worst Company Ever award.

Meanwhile, things over in Ma Bell's landline division don't appear to be much better. AT&T is running a "Help Yourself and Win" sweepstakes that's not doing it any good in the PR department. Participants vie for Four Grand Prizes -- a gift card worth $2,500 for buying a computer from Apple, Dell, HP, Sony, or Best Buy -- plus another $8,000 worth of Amazon and Starbucks gift cards for 180 runners-up. Sounds good, right?

To win, you must visit AT&T's sweepstakes site, hand over your e-mail address and phone number, and take a brief "trivia" quiz consisting of three questions:

What can you do if you are hearing noise or static on your regular phone line?

You have dial tone, but you aren't getting any telephone calls. What can you do?

Your phone does not ring when you have incoming calls. What can you do to resolve this issue online?

Here's a hint: The correct answer in each instance is "Visit AT&T's customer support repair page to report your problem and troubleshoot online." (Not that answering the questions correctly means you win. Your name must still be pulled out of a hat.)

I don't know what you walk away with from this, but here's what I get: AT&T landlines are noisy and trouble prone, and they have problems accepting incoming calls. Also, AT&T would much rather shunt you off to a Web page than deal with you directly, and it thinks you are a complete and utter boob.

Nice.

It gets worse. Cringester A. H. swears he saw the words "You're a Loser" flash across his screen seconds before the official "Sorry; you're not an instant winner today" graphic displays. Sure enough, perusing that image's properties shows the alternate text that will appear if your browser can't display it: "You're a Loser."

I am not at all surprised. When you treat your customers with this much contempt, you can't think of them as anything but losers. I don't see how Apple can continue its exclusive relationship with AT&T for much longer. It's becoming an embarrassment.

Unsuccessful In Court, AT&T Takes Verizon Fight To Airwaves

PC World

For some reason, Luke Wilson is taking AT&T's side in the 3G coverage wars, appearing in a new ad that retaliates against Verizon Wireless' stinging assault.

The ad arrived just as a U.S. District Court judged ruled that Verizon can keep airing its attacks on AT&T. Unable to silence its biggest competitor, AT&T has no choice but to retort. Unfortunately, the carrier ends up looking like the one kid on the playground who can't come up with a good “yo' mama” joke.

First of all, why is Luke Wilson the spokesperson here? Does he have some deep understanding of mobile broadband that I'm not aware of? Of course not, but in his 30 seconds of air time, all Wilson can manage are AT&T's tired old PR bullets, plus one really weak insult. Let's go over those points, shall we?

Nation's Fastest 3G Network

Fine, but that won't help you in areas where there's no 3G coverage, which is what Verizon's been saying all along. How about quantifying this claim instead of just repeating it? I'd like to know what uses or in what situations AT&T's extra speed will afford me, to the point that it's preferable to more reliable overall 3G service. Make the case to people who live in big cities.

Talk and Surf at the Same Time

This feature is not useful enough to deserve the second bullet point on Wilson's list. Maybe it's just me, but usually I hold the phone to my ear when I talk. When I'm on speakerphone, it's usually because I'm driving or I just don't feel like holding the phone. Besides, browsing the Web during a conversation is kind of rude. Besides, who says “surf” in relation to Web browsing anymore?

Most Popular Smartphones

This needs to be singular, or explained better. If we're talking about the most popular smartphones exclusive to AT&T, that leaves the iPhone. Blackberry phones are the most popular in the United States, but Verizon carries them, too. And it's got a relevant AT&T-bashing ad.

Access to More Than 100,000 Apps

This claim, of course, is entirely thanks to the iPhone, whose days on AT&T might be numbered. Repeating “We've got the iPhone” ad nauseam until it's gone is not an effective marketing strategy.

Concession

At the end of the ad, Wilson concedes one point to the competition: Their name “starts with the letter 'V.'” Wow, good one, AT&T. Verizon, Berizon, the big fat Ferizon. Next time, just pay Luke Wilson to call Verizon Wireless a poo-poo head and call it a day.

There's A Map For That

Judge rejects AT&T's effort to pull Verizon ads from the airwaves.

from Business Week

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request by AT&T Inc. to force competitor Verizon Wireless to pull its "There's a Map for That" commercials.

But the judge scheduled a Dec. 16 hearing to give the AT&T attorneys another chance to make their case.

AT&T filed the lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta earlier this month and asked for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. It contends they are misleading and amount to deceptive trade practices.

Verizon argues that the commercials are valid and truthful.

The ads show maps of the United States with areas highlighted to depict where third generation -- or "3G" -- network coverage is available. A map of the country nearly covered with red dots is shown to depict Verizon's coverage, while a map with some blue areas and a lot of blank space is shown to ostensibly display AT&T's 3G coverage.

AT&T says those maps are misleading because there is still regular coverage in areas where 3G service is not offered. The 3G networks allow users to access data faster.

The Verizon commercials mock Apple Inc.'s popular "There's an App for That" spots touting the thousands of applications that can be used on the iPhone. AT&T provides coverage for the iPhone.