AT&T postcard hints at HD Premium Tier... for a cost

More HD is always good, but it's not always free. AT&T just gifted many of its markets with eight high-def newcomers, but it seems that some future HD additions may fall into a newfangled "HD Premium Tier." A number of California-based U-verse subscribers have received a postcard notifying them that beginning on November 10th, Universal HD (1104) will be moving to the aforesaid tier. It also informs users that if they wish to continue receiving the channel, they'll need to "upgrade their current package." The plan is so new that some CSRs weren't even aware of what subscribers were referring to when they called to investigate, but suffice it to say, it looks like you'll soon be paying more to keep all of those HD channels around on U-verse.

[Thanks, Anthony]

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 3:38AM]

Got one in Texas also.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 12:41AM]

I live in Kansas City and I received this postcard as well. I would have thought at&t would have sent along something a bit more formal with new lineups or tiers or something. A postcard seems a bit random.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 1:02AM]

dont u-verse subscribers already pay an additional $10 a month to watch hd channels? so this 'premiem tier' is on top of that??

[spin cycle Posted Oct 19th 2008 1:32AM]

Sounds like it. Just like DirecTV ($10 for HD, $5 more for premium tier). And DirecTV has Universal HD in their premium tier too.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 10:19AM]

And what does the HDlie tier cost? If they are going from 8-9Mbps HD streams to 5-6Mbps streams then the cost to the cowsumers should be just as proportionate.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 11:27AM]

IF its enough solid channels, I wouldn't mind a small fee.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 3:35PM]

Yep- we got the un-informative postcard also. Funny, when we got U-verse in 2/2008, they said we'd be able to watch recorded programs from all tv's by Summer 2008, just like Dish Network that we gave up. Well, that just happened & now we get this. If they take away much more, we'll just go back to Dish. They touted this as giving us so much more than Dish at a GREAT savings. Seems there were several shortcomings & now price increases.

Dish wasn't bad, so we'll go back with no hesitation.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 3:46PM]

The tier pricing is a rip off. The technology is in place to subscribe to just the channels you want channels individually.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 19th 2008 3:58PM]

Or better yet, why don't these providers save bandwidth and dump the SD only feed. Seems like a waste when most boxes can easily downconvert the signal...then again I guess they'd have to replace all of their boxes with the type that can handle an HD signal.

I was thinking about U-verse, but with more and more fees, my $0.00 a month plan (OTA only) is looking real good (okay, it was $150 for the HD DVR I bought 2 years ago, so not 100% free, but close)

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2008 9:46AM]

Rumors are the 15 VOOM channels will be part of this new HD Premium Tier.

[(Unverified) Posted Oct 20th 2008 12:03PM]

I received the postcard as well in Dallas. It was my understanding that Universal HD was moving to a premium tier, not necessarily and "HD premium tier". By reading some of the forums, it looks like you will have to get the U400 package to get Universal HD.