AT&T Inc. and TotalVid announced a distribution agreement to deliver TotalVid's special-interest video content as part of the AT&T U-verse TV video-on-demand programming lineup. The deal makes AT&T U-verse TV the first service to bring TotalVid's video library to television VOD programming.

Under the agreement, AT&T U-verse customers will have on-demand access to hundreds of the most popular titles from the TotalVid library, including best-selling full-length videos in categories such as action sports, home improvement how-to's, martial arts and self-defense instruction, music and sports instruction and military history.

AT&T U-verse TV is the first service to deliver TotalVid's on-demand content to the television. TotalVid has existing distribution agreements with broadband providers, including AT&T, for downloadable digital videos. TotalVid's niche offerings initially found an audience on the Web, which provided a medium where consumers could turn for specialized content, but through the U-verse IPTV platform, AT&T will bring TotalVid titles previously only available on the Internet to television screens.

U-verse TV provides the content and functionality to help subscribers find, discover and connect with special-interest content. The advanced search capabilities enable customers to find the specific content or category of interest to them from among the vast collection, and the U-verse VOD management system gives AT&T the flexibility to better categorize titles and quickly adapt categories to respond to market and user trends.

"AT&T is excited to add TotalVid's array of unique content to the U-verse TV programming lineup. AT&T is committed to delivering diverse and quality on-demand programming, and TotalVid's collection of videos can speak to each of our customers' personal interests," said Richard Wellerstein, vice president of VOD programming, AT&T Operations, Inc. "Through our IP platform, we plan to offer customers a wide selection of niche content. U-verse TV brings the user control and choice associated with online video to a television-based, managed service."

"At TotalVid, we are constantly seeking new ways to extend our leadership in delivering hard-to-find enthusiast, educational and instructional video content to consumers across the country," said Karl Quist, president, TotalVid. "With this agreement and for the first time ever, TotalVid's extensive library of full-length videos will be available on television VOD through the AT&T U-verse TV platform."

This agreement builds on an existing relationship between AT&T and TotalVid. Under an agreement announced earlier this year, TotalVid also provides thousands of online, downloadable videos for AT&T broadband subscribers.

AT&T U-verse TV is delivered by Project Lightspeed, the company's initiative to expand the fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to deliver U-verse TV, AT&T Yahoo!® High Speed Internet U-verse Enabled and, in the future, Voice over IP services. Through its subsidiaries, AT&T expects to reach nearly 19 million households by the end of 2008 as part of its initial deployment, using fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technologies.

Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.