AT&T said U-verse is available to more than 200,000 households in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, the first time the service has been scaled above a few thousand potential subscribers.

AT&T boasts it offers more HD channels than rival cable operators, and to press the point, it is making a promotional offer of free HD programming.

Now through June 30, new customers who subscribe to AT&T’s U300 or U400 programming tiers will receive free TV service, including HBO and Cinemax, for two months.

At the same time, AT&T is offering a separate promotion of free HD for a year for all its pay-TV subscribers, whether they sign up for U-verse, or one of AT&T’s co-branded DBS services, offered in conjunction with EchoStar’s Dish Network in the old SBC/AT&T territories, and with DirecTV in the former BellSouth territories. New subscribers need to mail in a redemption form to get the deal.

The free access to HD programming offer, which AT&T said is a value of up to $240, is one of the first consumer promotions to be featured across the company’s entire 22-state footprint following the AT&T-BellSouth merger in December 2006.

The AT&T offer through AT&T | Dish Network is available now through May 31, 2007; through DirecTV, the offer is available through June 26, 2007; and the AT&T U-verse TV offer is available now through June 30, 2007.