AT&T used the
Ericsson Mediaroom platform to deliver U-verse TV via
IPTV from the
headend to the consumer's
receiver, required for each TV. Transmissions use
digital H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) encoding, compared to the existing deployments of
MPEG-2 codec and the discontinued
analog cable TV system. The receiver box does not have a
RF tuner, but is an
IP multicast client that requests the
channel or "stream" desired. U-Verse TV supports up to four/six active streams at once, depending on service tier. The system uses individual
unicasts for
video on demand, central
time shifting, start-over services and other programs.
Carriage negotiations • AT&T removed
Hallmark Channel and
Hallmark Movie Channel from AT&T U-verse TV effective September 1, 2010, due to a
carriage dispute. An AT&T spokesperson stated, "Hallmark has refused to provide AT&T and its customers with a fair deal—one that is no worse than similarly-sized and smaller providers—and refused to adhere to key obligations under our current deal", while Hallmark Channel's president and CEO Bill Abbott said he was "...stunned by the apparent disregard for the facts ... If they are really serious, my team and I are ready for truly fair negotiations." After the removal, the channels temporarily provided free previews of
Starz Kids & Family and
Turner Classic Movies.
Crown Media Holdings operates the two Hallmark channels in the United States. •
Univision tlnovelas and
Univision Deportes Network began on U-verse on May 11, 2012, after a carriage agreement was signed with
Univision Communications. • Just prior to the 2010 series premiere of the
AMC program
Mad Men, AT&T and
Rainbow Media resolved a carriage dispute without interruption to any channels. AT&T stated that Rainbow, "...had been trying to force the renegotiation of a contract for one of their other channels that is not yet expired." It was speculated that this additional contract renegotiation was for
Sundance Channel and was successfully concluded, due to Rainbow Media's summation, "We're pleased to have reached an agreement with AT&T for AMC,
WE tv,
IFC and Sundance Channel that truly recognizes the value of our networks." •
HGTV, the
Food Network, the
DIY Network, the
Cooking Channel, and
Great American Country were temporarily inaccessible between November 5 and November 7, 2010, due to a carriage dispute with
Scripps Networks. U-verse vice president Brian Shay stated afterward that AT&T had received a "fair deal". • U-verse picked up the
Longhorn Network on August 31, 2012, increasing its availability to 12.9% of the Austin, Texas television market. • On January 15, 2013, U-verse came to terms with
Disney on a new wide-ranging multiple-year carriage agreement for all Disney, ESPN and ABC Networks, which included the addition of Disney Junior. • On February 28, 2015, 46
Music Choice channels and
MC Play were removed and were replaced by 75 Stingray Music channels. • On October 26, 2015, U-verse came to terms with
Tribune Media on a new wide-ranging multiple-year carriage agreement for all Tribune stations, which includes the addition of
WGN America. • AT&T removed
Univision,
UniMás,
Galavisión,
Univision Deportes Network and
Univision tlnovelas from AT&T U-verse effective March 4, 2016, due to a carriage dispute. Although U-verse was in an integration process with DirecTV, which became a subsidiary of AT&T, it did not affect DirecTV customers during the process. All of Univision's channels were later returned to the U-verse lineup on March 24, 2016. ==See also==