AT&T has partnered with video ad tech provider Videology to enable advertisers to buy ads on linear TV across over 130 different cable TV networks in 26 million DirecTV and U-Verse homes. At Videology’s Full Frontal Video event in NYC this morning, I did an on-stage interview with Jason Brown, VP, National Advertising Sales for AT&T AdWorks about the new initiative and how it will be implemented.

Jason said the new “video inventory platform” or “VIP” will give buyers a self-service dashboard to select target audiences across all DMAs using a combination of AT&T’s and their own first and third-party data. The linear inventory will draw from AT&T/DirecTV’s 2 minutes per hour of ad avails, per its deals with individual cable TV networks.

The buyers’ selections will then be reviewed by AT&T, which will in turn provide a customized media plan within a couple of days, which is far quicker than the current 1-2 week turnaround time. When the plan is approved, it will be activated by AT&T and the buyer will be able to check their dashboard for ongoing performance.

Jason said that one advertiser or agency is being sought for a beta test, to insure the “pipes” all work properly and then a broader rollout will occur later this year. Subsequently, Jason sees VIP being extended to mobile as well and for cross-screen. This synchs with the company’s plans for its new DirecTV OTT/mobile services. Jason distinguished the inventory being made available as fully transparent and high-quality, as opposed to other programmatic TV suppliers’ focus on VOD and remnant inventory.

Like NBCU’s move last week, AT&T’s represents more of a phase one approach to programmatic TV rather than full-blown implementation that is common in online video and display. As with NBCU’s plan, AT&T’s will be a private market with only select advertisers, and will not offer real-time bidding, dynamic ad insertion, machine-to-machine transactions or multiple DSPs.

Jason said AT&T’s move was strongly driven by buyer interest and overall market trends. Buyers are clearly motivated by targeting and automation processes now commonly used in online video, and are seeking to extend these to TV and cross-screen.

With the upfront season just ahead, it’s practically inevitable that other TV networks and/or pay-TV operators will also announce programmatic TV initiatives which are shaping up to be one of the key trends for 2016.