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A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 3 March 2020

This file photo combo shows the AT&T logo on the side of a cor-
porate office in Springfield, Ill., left, and a DirecTV satellite dish
atop a home in Los Angeles.
Associated Press

AT&T launches new

online TV service as In this Sept. 16, 2016 file photo, a customer compares her iPhone 6, left, with an iPhone 7 at an

video customers fall Apple Store in Chicago. Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — AT&T is customers after price in- Apple to pay up to $500M over
launching a new internet- creases. AT&T is now trying
day as it struggles with a favor of the new AT&T TV. battery-related phone slowdown
to downplay that service in
delivered TV service Mon-
shrinking DirecTV satellite Customers don't need to
business. be AT&T internet or wireless By RACHEL LERMAN slowing down older phones in older models to avoid
The new service, AT&T TV, customers to sign up, al- AP Technology Writer to preserve older batteries. unexpected shutdowns re-
will have most of the same though there are discount- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple and lawyers repre- lated to battery fatigue.
channels offered on Direc- ed packages available. IPhone owners could get senting iPhone consumers That admission led to Apple
TV, but it'll come over the And the company is pro- $25 from Apple after the agreed to a deal stemming offering discounted bat-
internet rather than a sat- moting the service by say- company agreed to pay from Apple's 2017 admis- tery replacements at $29,
ellite dish. AT&T has been ing it won't count against up to $500 million to settle sion that it was slowing but many people claimed
testing the service in 13 AT&T data caps.q claims over intentionally down phone performance they had already spent
markets and is now making hundreds of dollars to buy
it available to anyone. new phones because Ap-
AT&T will send subscrib- After damaging report, W.Va. ple didn't reveal the cause
ers an Android streaming- of the problem. If they had
TV box to use the service. moves away from voting app known they could just buy
The free device will also new batteries, they might
come with Netflix and not have bought new
other streaming apps, the By ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE has mostly been used for ny said the app hasn't had phones, some consumers
way Comcast's X1 cable CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) absentee ballots from any reported issues over in the case said.
box does. Additional boxes — West Virginia is opting overseas military person- nine pilot elections. Apple did not admit
cost $120. not to use a widely criti- nel, has vulnerabilities that Voting security experts wrongdoing. As part of the
The channel lineups and cized voting app in the could allow hackers to have repeatedly argued settlement, the company
prices are comparable with state's coming primary change a person's vote that online voting is dan- will pay $310 million to $500
what's available from Di- elections after a blistering without detection. The re- gerously insecure. Few million, including about $93
recTV, but AT&T TV doesn't report found potential se- searchers said they were states are even consider- million to lawyers represent-
have NFL Sunday Ticket, a curity flaws in the platform. forced to reverse engi- ing it. Alaska in 2018 ex- ing consumers.
package of out-of-market Donald Kersey, general neer an Android version plored doing so but then IPhone users who were
football games. counsel in the West Vir- of the app because the decided against it. named in the class-action
The company is trying to ginia Secretary of State's company hasn't allowed After the release of the MIT lawsuit will get up to $3,500
adapt to the shift to stream- office, said Monday that transparent third-party report, officials in West Vir- each. The rest of the settle-
ing video, as subscribers to an MIT analysis of the Voa- testing of the system. ginia were quick to point ment money will be distrib-
traditional cable and satel- tz app "gave us enough The Voatz app was used out that they hadn't yet uted to owners of iPhone
lite TV services fall. In May, pause" to instead use a to tally fewer than 200 bal- decided to use the Voatz 6, 6S, 7 and SE models who
it's launching HBO Max, different system for the lots in West Virginia's 2018 app for the state's new meet eligibility require-
a $15-a-month streaming May elections. elections and didn't have disability voting law in the ments related to the oper-
service that will marry HBO The decision came as any problems, state of- coming primaries. ating system they had run-
shows with original pro- state officials had to ficials said. The app has On Friday, the Secretary of ning.
grams and TV shows and choose an online voting also been used in pilots in State's office said it would They must file claims to get
movies from WarnerMedia. system to comply with a Denver, Oregon and Utah. use an electronic system the award. If too many
AT&T also has an online new law requiring elec- The Boston-based Voatz from the company De- people file, the $25 amount
package that started as a tronic ballots for people has strongly disputed MIT's mocracy Live that will al- could shrink.
cheaper service with fewer with physical disabilities. research methods, accus- low voters to fill out ballots A federal judge in San Jose,
channels than a traditional Last month, an MIT study ing the analysts of acting online or have them print- California, still needs to ap-
bundle, but it is shedding found that Voatz, which "in bad faith." The compa- ed out and mailed in.q prove the settlement.q