Yet another technological innovation for the telcos

The rollout of AT&T's IPTV over DSL appears to going swimmingly, just like their deployments of ISDN and last-mile fiber to the home.

...industry analysts are skeptical about [AT&T's] network, dubbed Project LightSpeed, and the TV service, called U-verse. "This is a complicated product launch on a scale that is pretty much unprecedented," said analyst Adi Kishore of the Yankee Group research firm in Boston. "They're going to have problems, especially given the relatively tight time frame to get things done." Experts question the wisdom of creating a network that's likely to be technologically out of date by the time it's complete. LightSpeed is designed to send data at an average of 25 megabits per second by extending high-capacity fiber optic lines to within 3,000 feet of homes. To cover the remaining distance, AT&T plans to rely on new DSL gear to send data humming over existing copper lines...

And these are the blokes that want to control the keys to the Internet.

SaveAccess: AT&T's Project Lightspeed