Is ATT trying to kill UVerse TV?

Simple answer - according to AT&T - YES.

Had a call from them yesterday asking me to switch from UVerse to DirectTV.  I said I wasn't interested, get all the stations I need at present and have 100+ hours of recordings I want to watch. The response (paraphrased) was "We will keep raising the price of UVerse until it is uneconomic for you to keep it", and also "You will lose the recordings that you have unless you transfer them to a different device".  The former I find disgusting after umpteen years of payments to AT&T and the latter, AFAIK, is impossible without replaying at live speed for capture elsewhere.

Who exactly is "them" Disgusted2017? I get this sort of stuff too from other things and I'd wager that you did not get a call from AT&T stating that. I'd wager you got a call from a DirecTV reseller.... I've gotten the same thing and I've learned to ask the caller very clearly to confirm that they are an employee of the company they say and if so then I'd like to have their extension number so I can call back if I have questions. That is when their ruse breaks down...

I originally came across this sort of ruse through my business which is listed on Google. I get at least a call a month stating they are with Google and that my listing is in jeapordy of being removed for blah, blah, blah or my site is not optimal for ranking, etc. As soon as I press them for their @google.com email address (only an actual Google employee will have one of those) it falls apart for them. They get you on the phone and quickly start talking either directly stating or cleverly insinuating that they are with the company when in fact they are not. They are, in this case, almost certainly just one of many AT&T resellers who are specifically being told to push DirecTV. In the other scenario for me its just one of many thousands of companies that are so called specialized in SEO "search engine optimization"....

Aside from that I do very much agree with "my thoughts" above. For AT&T it does just make more sense. Aside from that though, AT&T does indeed still actively promote UVerse in ads here. I regularly see ads promoting upgrading to U300, U400, to add HBO, a special promo about moving and taking your UVerse services with you, etc. Maybe they are not running these ads in all markets? I have no idea but I know I see them regularly here. Do I also see DirecTV ads, absolutely.

You may well be right mixmansc, and I hope that you are.  However it would be nice to hear definitively from AT&T that they are NOT intending to dispense with Uverse.