AT&T adds 208,000 U-verse TV subscribers in Q4 2011

AT&T (NYSE: T) said Thursday that it added 208,000 U-verse TV subscribers during the fourth quarter, growing its subscription video subscriber base to 3.8 million.

While Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has halted construction on its FiOS TV network, AT&T is continuing to expand U-verse to new markets where it is challenging Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR) and other cable MSOs. The telco, which first launched the IPTV-based U-verse TV service in 2006, said U-verse now passes 30 million housing units and has reached a penetration rate of 15.9 percent in markets where it is available.

AT&T, which also resells DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV) programming in markets where it doesn't offer U-verse TV, said it expanded its video subscriber base to 5.9 million.

The generated about $170 monthly in average revenue from homes that take U-verse during Q4, up 2.5 percent from this time last year. It added 587,000 U-verse high-speed Internet subscribers, growing its total to 5.2 million. But it continues to bleed DSL subscribers, resulting in a loss of 49,000 wireline broadband connections.

For more:
- see the earnings release

Special Report: Sizing up the cable industry in Q4 2011

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