Consumers Have Many More Reasons to Be Merry This Holiday Season as Video Choice and Competition Become Reality for More and More Americans

NEW YORK - A growing number of American consumers have yet another reason to rejoice and be glad this holiday season - true choice for subscription television service.   As 2007 draws to a close, the marketplace success of Verizon's FiOS TV offer is becoming obvious, as consumers sign up for TV from Verizon at a rate of 3,200 each business day.

Verizon FiOS TV operates on the nation's most extensive digital all-fiber-optic network provided by Verizon straight to customers' homes. 

"Fiber-optics all the way to a consumer's home changes everything, and consumers know it," said Marilyn O'Connell, chief marketing officer, Verizon Telecom.  "Each and every day, thousands of consumers are saying 'so long' to their cable television provider as they celebrate the arrival of Verizon's FiOS."

Analysts and Verizon's competitors are noticing as well.

An increasing number of the nation's largest cable television providers now acknowledge that video choice and competition have arrived in the marketplace, and consumers are winning.  Several large cable companies candidly announced in recent weeks that they're feeling the pressure of competition.  

Wall Street analysts are noticing, too, downgrading the outlook for many cable TV companies.  

In its most recent earnings statement, Verizon reported it had more than 717,000 FiOS television subscribers nationwide, an increase of more than 200,000 over the previous quarter. 

Most of its customers are benefiting even more by bundling FiOS TV with the company's great voice and top-ranked FiOS Internet products.   The company also recently announced new opportunities to add Verizon Wireless products and services to bundles, giving consumers even more chances to save.

Among the recent milestones signaling increased competition and improvements in the marketplace:

• Verizon's FiOS products are now available in 1 million New Jersey homes and businesses.

• Verizon continues to dramatically raise broadband upload speeds in FiOS Internet service areas, and now offers symmetrical services that make possible equally fast downsteam and upstream connections of up to 15 megabits per second (Mbps) or up to 20 Mbps, depending on the state where the service is sold.
• Consumers give Verizon FiOS Internet top ratings for overall satisfaction and value.  Readers of PC World and Computerworld magazines have recently ranked FiOS Internet No. 1, with top scores across the board in overall satisfaction, connection reliability, download and upload speeds, customer service, and technical support.  Also, FiOS Internet was named to the top five of PC World Magazine's 100 Best Products of 2007.
• FiOS TV currently offers a video-on-demand library of more than 10,000 titles. HD Video on Demand is now on FiOS TV; 1,000 HD VOD titles will be available by the end of 2008.
• Verizon's FiOS TV is now available in 13 states, with more soon to come.
• Verizon just marked the two-year anniversary of FiOS television in Florida and Texas.  New York and Massachusetts mark their two-year anniversaries shortly; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware are poised to celebrate one-year anniversaries of FiOS TV soon as well.
• Verizon's partnership with DIRECTV expands.  More than 800,000 Verizon customers currently enjoy entertainment services from the satellite TV service.

Verizon's FiOS services are the only broadly available Internet and entertainment services delivered over fiber-optic cables all the way to customer homes, offering a virtually unlimited amount of bandwidth that allows unmatched diversity and speed of services.  Where FiOS is not yet available, Verizon offers DSL-based High Speed Internet service and entertainment products from DIRECTV.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 63.7 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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