June 23, 2006 - By Carly Mayberry, The Hollywood Reporter

In the near future, devices with cross-platform capabilities will control every screen in the home and computers will display customizable multicamera angles of live events.

These were among the predictions AT&T Lightspeed executive vp programming Dan York made Wednesday night as he addressed a Digital Coast Roundtable meeting at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica.

These features and more are part of AT&T’s Project Lightspeed, an initiative from the telecommunications holding company that uses a fiber-optic network to deliver TV, voice and high-speed Internet service. York called it “a platform to the future.”

Dubbed U-verse TV, the service offers hundreds of channels, a growing video-on-demand library, “frame staging” channel change that eliminates the typical delay, sophisticated search capabilities and a picture-in-picture channel change allowing subscribers to channel surf without leaving the program they are watching.

York said this was all possible because of the switched Internet Protocol video network that allows only the content the customer requests to be provided, subsequently freeing up needed bandwidth.

“We’re just scratching the surface of what IPTV can do, and one of the biggest challenges is communicating all its benefits,” said York, who touted the service’s ability for subscribers to pause programming being viewed in one room and continue it in another as one way of catering to individual viewing preferences.

“It’s a simple application for this platform, but it’s a game-changer for the consumer,” York said.

He said the company expects to roll out the service in 15-20 AT&T markets by year’s end. Although he declined to divulge specifics about content offerings, he did say it would include the major broadcast networks, high-definition and a lot of niche programming.

The Digital Coast Roundtable is a Southern California nonprofit leadership organization dedicated to emerging technology and new-media companies.

Copyright 2006, The Hollywood Reporter. All rights reserved.