n AT&T’s second-quarter earnings report, the company said it added a net 248,000 TV customers during the quarter bringing its U-verse TV following to 1.6 million subscribers. That’s also a growth of about 1 million subscribers in a year.

AT&T U-verseSM TV customers in the Sacramento area now have a brighter TV forecast. AT&T California today announced the launch of Weather On Demand in the Sacramento area, an interactive feature powered by AccuWeather.com® that allows U-verse TV customers to find the weather information they want, in the city they want,

AT&T Friday said it plans to spend roughly $400 million over the next several years to upgrade fiber-optic networks throughout Alabama to expand broadband deployment and accelerate the delivery of its U-verse television service.

Dish Network Corp.'s first-quarter profit climbed 21%, but the satellite-television provider continued to lose subscribers as competition mounts. Sister company EchoStar Corp., meanwhile, swung to a first-quarter loss amid declining revenue.

AT&T has agreed to a new carriage deal with Viacom’s MTV Networks and BET Networks that expands content distribution across AT&T’s television and wireless platforms. The deal also puts content from five Viacom networks on AT&T CruiseCast, an in-car entertainment service scheduled to launch this spring.

A poor second quarter for Douglas County-based Dish Network has prompted new speculation that the satellite TV provider is contemplating a deal with rival DirecTV.

DirecTV Group Inc., the nation's largest satellite-television provider, said second-quarter profit rose 1.6% as high-definition channels attracted new customers.

Net income climbed to $455 million, or 40 cents a share, from $448 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier, DirecTV said. Sales jumped 16% to $4.81 billion. Profit met the average analyst estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Consumers rank AT&T and Verizon among the top television service providers in a J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Satisfaction Study released Wednesday.

Toshiba reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss, as the company reduced costs by exiting the high-definition video market but failed to offset slumping television sales. Toshiba’s digital-products unit for the quarter ended March 31 had an operating loss of 15.6 million yen