AT&T has announced a distribution agreement with ADV's Anime Network to deliver its on-demand anime programming as part of the AT&T U-Verse TV channel lineup.  Under the agreement, AT&T U-Verse TV customers will have access to Anime Network On Demand, which will offer a combination of free, subscription, and traditional transactional video-on-demand (VOD) options.  The Anime Network's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) is an especially attractive package for anime fans (see 'More Anime in More Places').

AT&T's U-Verse will be delivered by Project Lightspeed, the company's initiative to expand the fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods to deliver a full range of video, Internet, and phone 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.