AT&T wants to pipe DirecTV straight into your car

AT&T doesn't just want to put an Internet connection in every car. It wants the people in those cars to watch its recently acquired television service, DirecTV. So, someday in the not-too-distant future, the wireless carrier plans to begin piping the pay-TV service into connected vehicles over its cellular network.

"We think that DirecTV is a great entertainment asset in our portfolio, and we're actively working with them to identify ways to bring DTV content into the car," said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of AT&T's Internet of Things department. AT&T said there is no timeline for the integration yet. But for parents and families, it could mean for the first time giving restless youngsters in the backseat access to live, streaming television on long road trips. For AT&T, layering a data-intensive service on top of its existing wireless network means something else: More money.