While DirecTV, Verizon and other multichannel providers are seeing subscriber growth slow partly as a result of the poor economy, AT&T executives say they are "optimistic" that it will continue to increase the number of customers that take its U-verse TV and Internet products.

AT&T added 200,000  U-verse TV subscribers during the first quarter. "We continue to be optimistic about growth for the video product," CFO John Stephens told analysts on the company's earnings call Tuesday.

Stephens noted that while AT&T averages a cable TV penetration rate of 16 percent in markets where U-verse is available, the telco has achieved a penetration rate of 27 percent in cities where it has been available for longer than 42 months. "I think it's obvious that there's more [growth] opportunity," Stephens said.

AT&T faced challenges keeping up with new orders for U-verse TV and Internet services in the past, with new installs being impacted by equipment availability and the number of technicians in place to handle installations. But Stephens said subscriber growth wouldn't be slowed by technical issues, noting that the telco was able to add 200,000 new U-verse TV customers by having its sales team focus on coordinating more with its installation team.

AT&T picked up 718,000 U-verse high-speed Internet subscribers during the first quarter. Stephens said the company expects it will continue to see U-verse Internet subscribers increase as more DSL customers migrate to U-verse. "We're seeing a quick migration, which gives us confidence that we can compete with all broadband providers on speed and price and quality of service. We would expect that this transformation, which has accelerated over the last year, will continue. And so we are optimistic about continuing to shift our 16 million broadband customers from legacy DSL products and services to our next-generation U-verse high-speed broadband," Stephens said.