Making TV personal

AT&T Broadband wants to know what its subscribers think about personal TV and digital video recording and will launch a joint marketing trial with ReplayTV with 5,000 of its digital subscribers in Boston and Denver later this month.

"Direct mail is going to digital cable customers who have the two-way enabled network (and Motorola DCT-2000 set-tops)," said AT&T Broadband spokesperson Tracy Baumgartner. "The first group of those to opt will be in the group."

Those who join the test must buy a ReplayTV box that will be sold for "less than retail." There will be no AT&T Broadband buyback at the end of the trial for those who might not want to continue with the service, Baumgartner said.

AT&T Broadband hopes to get a clearer view of subscriber preferences for advanced digital recording capabilities that may be included in future versions of high-end set-top boxes, with or without ReplayTV technology. Motorola, AT&T Broadband's key supplier, is already in a consortium with ReplayTV and Charter Communications to integrate Replay's technology in future versions of its high-end DCT-5000 digital boxes, but Baumgartner said that is not an immediate part of the AT&T Broadband plan.