Verizon Bringing FiOS TV to More Neighborhoods in Manhattan and Queens

NEW YORK - What a way to start off the New Year: More FiOS TV availability in more New York City neighborhoods!

Residents and businesses in additional areas in Manhattan and Queens can now sign up for the all-digital, all-fiber service foot and join the Verizon FiOS TV revolution that is sweeping the city.

Verizon has begun offering a bundled package of FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and wired, reliable voice services for a price as low as $94.99 a month to consumers and businesses in Murray Hill, Sutton Place, Tudor City and Turtle Bay in Manhattan, and Bellaire, Bellerose and Queens Village in Queens.

In addition, Verizon is spreading Verizon FiOS TV availability to more areas in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bensonhurst East, Gravesend and Homecrest, where the service was previously activated.

Door-to-door marketing and other pre-sales activities have been taking place in all the neighborhoods in preparation for the introduction of FiOS TV.

With this expansion, Verizon has met its goal of having half-a-million homes open for sale in New York City at the end of 2008.  Last July, Verizon launched FiOS TV in the city in 108 neighborhoods across all five boroughs, providing TV availability to more than 300,000 households.

"We are moving quickly to get Verizon FiOS TV to as many neighborhoods and as many customers as possible," said Chris Creager, Verizon's president for the Northeast area.  "New Yorkers know a great deal when they see it, and once FiOS comes to their neighborhoods they're eager to sign up for our truly great bundle of services. 

"More importantly," Creager said, "they're eager to dump their old cable company and sign on with the best technology, the best picture quality, the fastest Internet access, all for the best value on the market today.  When they hear their neighbors have FiOS, they call us to place their order."

Creager said that the company is continuing to build its all-fiber infrastructure throughout neighborhoods that already have the advanced services. 

Verizon is New York's market leader in high-definition (HD) availability.  FiOS TV offers more than 500 total channels in the region - featuring 106 HD channels, more than any local cable TV company, including Cablevision or Time Warner.

New customers who subscribe to FiOS TV between now and Feb. 21 will receive their choice of free use for six months of either a high-definition (HD) digital video recorder (DVR) or an HD Home Media DVR.  Customers who take advantage of this offer will save between $95 and $119 the first six months, depending upon the DVR they choose.

FiOS TV service highlights include:

• More than 500 all-digital channels grouped by genres such as entertainment, sports, news, shopping, movies and family, making it easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.
   
• A total of 106 high-definition channels in the New York City market, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
   
• More than 14,000 video on demand (VOD) titles, 70 percent of which are free.  In addition, the VOD library includes more than 1,200 HD VOD titles per month.
   
• 100 per cent digital quality on every channel and less "pixilation" (distortion) than with cable or satellite.  Unlike some cable providers, FiOS TV quality is not deteriorated by the recompression of video signals before they are passed on to customers.
   
• An innovative interactive media guide (IMG) that helps customers quickly and easily find and enjoy content from TV listings, VOD catalogs and the Home Media DVR (digital video recorder), as well as personal music and photos from a home network.  Among the features of the IMG are:
• Multi-Room DVR - Verizon's Home Media DVR allows customers to stream recorded HD and standard-definition (SD) programs to up to six other TV sets throughout the home.  This includes the ability to watch three separately recorded shows on three TV sets at the same time, plus pause recorded programming in one room and continue watching in another.
• Widgets - Customers have one-touch, on-demand access to local weather and traffic reports shown on TV screens.  Widgets provide local traffic and weather reports, daily local and national news headlines, daily national sports headlines, community news, and daily horoscopes.
• Free casual games - With the remote control and an HD set-top box, customers can access chess, solitaire and wordplay.
• "What's Hot on FiOS TV" - Features information on the most-popular programs currently being broadcast in the region and the most popular VOD titles.
• Return to paused programming - Allows customers to pause live programming, change channels, and then return to the paused program and pick up where they left off.
• Channel sorting options - Customers can create two separate lists of favorite channels for family members.  Customers also can filter channels in the guide by genre, for instances where a customer only may want to see HD content, international channels or kids programming, among others.
• Fantasy Football - FiOS TV customers who are registered users of ESPN Fantasy Football will have instant on-screen access to personalized NFL statistics, including rosters, box scores, scoring leaders and player information.
• Programming choices for Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Russian and other multicultural audiences are available in every market.  Because FiOS TV has so much capacity, it is an outlet for emerging and independent networks to showcase their diverse programming.

Information on packages and prices is available at www.verizon.com/fiostv.  New Yorkers also can call 1-888-GET-FIOS (888-438-3467) to see if they qualify to order FiOS TV.

Verizon delivers FiOS TV and Internet services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes and businesses, providing stunning picture-and-sound quality, a broad spectrum of content diversity, interactive features and the fastest Internet speeds, creating the ultimate home-entertainment experience. 

FiOS Internet delivers download speeds of up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps, as well as high-quality voice services. Verizon's FiOS Internet service was named the top pick in PC Magazine's 2008 readers' survey and also was named a winner in PC World Magazine's The 100 Best Products of 2008.  It was the second year in a row that the broadband service made the survey and best product lists.

In addition, Verizon FiOS TV has been ranked "Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the East Region," in J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Satisfaction StudySM.

The value of FiOS TV extends to the installation and customer support.  Specially trained Verizon technicians will install the service and acquaint subscribers with FiOS TV features and services.  Verizon is waiving the installation fee for up to three existing TV outlets, and there is no charge to install a needed optical network terminal at the subscriber's home.  Charges for other installation services, such as additional outlets, may apply.  Verizon provides 24 x 7 technical assistance by phone from its Fiber Solutions Centers.