AT&T; Outlines Plans for Reaching Homes Via Cable

LAS VEGAS — AT&T; Corp., the nation’s biggest long-distance phone company, said Tuesday that it expects to be able to offer video, data and local phone service to 40% to 50% of U.S. homes through cable TV and other lines “very shortly.”

AT&T; Broadband & Internet Services Chief Leo Hindery said he is working on a model that would have interactive television devices in 80% to 85% of those homes within 36 to 48 months. Heavy deployment will begin in the fall of 2000, he said at the National Assn. of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

New York-based AT&T; bought Tele-Communications Inc., the No. 2 cable TV operator, in which Hindery was a top executive, earlier this year to gain access to its cable lines to deliver local phone and other services. AT&T; has also aligned with Time Warner Inc. and seeks more such ties. About 1.8 million of its subscribers have advanced digital set-top devices that will offer interactive services, and AT&T; is adding these devices to 5,000 to 6,000 homes a day, Hindery said.

“Television is the heartbeat of the home, and it is the television, not the PC, that will become the household appliance that will provide access to the entertainment, information and communications that consumers seek,” he said.