AT&T announced today that it has added the Ohio cities of Akron and Cleveland to its U-verse roster, bringing the total number of IPTV markets to 23.

The service isn’t ubiquitous in the cities, although AT&T continues its buildout. In the Cleveland metro area, suburban communities being served include: Bay Village, Berea, Broadview Heights, Brooklyn, Euclid, Fairview Park, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Mentor, North Royalton, Orange, Solon, South Euclid, Warrensville Heights, Westlake, Willoughby Hills and Willowick. In the Akron metro area, the communities served are: Cuyahoga Falls, Fairlawn, Kent, Munroe Falls, Silver Lake and Stow.

The announcement of U-Verse’s first Ohio deployments comes after the Ohio House and Senate each passed a version of a statewide franchise bill. The two versions must now be reconciled and sent on to Gov. Ted Strickland, who supports statewide video franchises.

As of mid-June, AT&T had 40,000 U-verse customers and is adding 1000 customers a week, AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said at NXTcomm last week.

Ohio is the eighth state to get U-verse, joining California, Connecticut, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin.