AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and NBC Universal, Inc. today announced a distribution agreement to deliver NBC Universal linear, high-definition (HD) and on-demand programming as part of the AT&T U-verse(SM) TV channel lineup.
Under the agreement, AT&T will distribute to U-verse customers the analog and digital signals of the NBC and Telemundo owned-and-operated broadcast stations, as well as NBCU's cable properties, including CNBC, CNBC World, MSNBC, Telemundo, mun2, Telemundo Puerto Rico, Bravo, the SCI FI Channel, Sleuth, ShopNBC, USA Network, Universal HD and the Olympics on Cable. The deal also includes video-on-demand (VOD) rights for Universal Pictures' movies.
"NBC Universal operates many of the most popular television services on the air today," said Dan York, head of programming, AT&T Entertainment. "We're thrilled to include the wide array of engaging and entertaining NBC Universal brands in our channel lineup and VOD offering."
"NBC Universal is proud to deliver diverse, quality programming; leading news coverage; and award-winning feature films to AT&T U-verse customers," said Henry Ahn, senior vice president, Affiliate Sales, NBCU Cable. "We appreciate AT&T's support of NBC Universal in the broad carriage of all of our cable properties, broadcast network, owned and operated stations, and VOD films."
AT&T U-verse TV is delivered by Project Lightspeed, the company's initiative to expand the fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to deliver U-verse TV, AT&T Yahoo!(R) High Speed Internet U-verse Enabled and, in the future, Voice over IP services. Through its subsidiaries, AT&T expects to reach nearly 19 million households by the end of 2008 as part of its initial deployment, using fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technologies.
