This Is FiOS and This Is Big! Really Big! Verizon FiOS TV Makes Its Western New York Debut

BUFFALO, N.Y. - There's finally a home-entertainment choice that's big enough for Buffalo-area consumers as Verizon begins offering FiOS TV service in numerous Erie County communities Monday (Sept. 15).

"Consumers in these communities at long last have a better choice for TV," said Denny Strigl, Verizon's president and chief operating officer.  "We've had great success in cities and towns from California to Texas, from Florida to Massachusetts.  Now it's time to bring Verizon FiOS TV to Western New York in a really big way and provide consumers in the region with the opportunity to be liberated from their old-fashioned cable TV company."

[Note: A news conference will be held today at 2 p.m. at Verizon's new video hub office in Buffalo.  Contact media representatives above for specifics.]

As part of this launch, Verizon will offer up to 100 high-definition (HD) channels to consumers in the Western New York market.

"Our advanced fiber-optic network was built for HD, and we're offering more HD channels than Time Warner," said Strigl.  "With all-fiber connections running straight to their homes and apartments, viewers get both standard- and high-definition TV that is eye-popping and jaw-dropping."

Verizon is initially offering FiOS TV to more than 60,000 households in the Buffalo   area.  Among the first communities to get the service are parts of Amherst; the town and village of Hamburg; the town and village of Orchard Park; and Tonawanda.  The service will be available to several additional communities in the region within the next few weeks.

FiOS TV provides an unparalleled viewing experience that comes with unmatched, red-carpet customer service.  FiOS TV also comes with Verizon's FiOS Freedom bundle of FiOS TV, the nation's best Internet service and Verizon's dependable, telephone service - all starting at $99.99 a month.

To make the offer even sweeter, new customers who subscribe to FiOS TV by Oct. 4 will receive their choice of a year's free use of either an HD digital video recorder (DVR) or an HD Home Media DVR. Verizon is also offering new FiOS TV customers, or existing customers who upgrade to a bundled package, one free month of HBO and Cinemax, which includes the latest hit movies, documentaries and original programming from more than 25 premium channels and access to hundreds of titles on video-on-demand (VOD).  New customers who take advantage of this offer will save between $200 and $260 the first year, depending upon the DVR customers choose.

Nationally, FiOS Internet is available in parts of 16 states, and FiOS TV is offered in parts of 14 states.

Over the past several weeks, Verizon started direct marketing and local advertising in the initial launch neighborhoods to enable consumers to pre-order the FiOS TV service.

"The response from consumers, so far, has been nothing short of amazing," said Andrés Irlando, Verizon senior vice president of the New York region.  "These advance orders soared well above our expectations."  Verizon will start installing FiOS TV in customers' homes starting today.

While Verizon does not yet have a video franchise agreement with Buffalo, the company has started wiring parts of the city with its FiOS network.  FiOS Internet service is now available in these areas, offering consumers incredible Internet speeds and the dependability of fiber-optic communications all the way to their homes and businesses, for both Internet and voice service.

In addition, the company placed its state-of-the-art video hub office in downtown Buffalo.

Irlando added:  "We hear time and time again that Buffalo-area residents love Verizon, with more than 1,800 Buffalo-area residents employed by the company at more than a dozen work centers, garages, switching centers and call centers throughout the region.  Verizon is intrinsically tied to the region, and we're proud to bring our breath-taking, new and cutting-edge services to Buffalo-area consumers."

FiOS TV Service Highlights

Verizon, the nation's fastest-growing television provider, delivers FiOS TV over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network straight to consumers' homes and businesses.  FiOS TV offers stunning picture-and-sound quality, more high-definition (HD) and video-on-demand (VOD) choices than Time Warner and interactive features that create the ultimate home-entertainment experience.  With FiOS TV, subscribers enjoy a broad spectrum of content diversity and exciting interactive features that set it apart from cable offerings.

Service highlights include:

• More than 400 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.

• Availability of 100 high-definition channels in the Buffalo region, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
• A library of more than 11,000 VOD titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. The VOD library also includes an increasing number of HD titles. By year-end, Verizon plans to offer 1,000 HD VOD titles each month.
• An innovative interactive media guide (IMG) that helps customers quickly and easily find and enjoy content from TV listings, video-on-demand catalogs and the digital video recorder (DVR) as well as personal music and photos from a home network.  Features of the IMG include:
  • 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 widgets that provide local traffic and weather reports, daily local and national news headlines, daily national sports headlines, community news, and daily horoscopes shown on TV screens.
  • 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.
  • "Wait for Me" - Customers can 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.  They also can filter channels in the guide by genre, for instances where a customer may only want to see HD content, international channels or kids programming, among others.

Consumers can visit www.verizon.com/fiostv or call 1-888-438-3467 to find out if FiOS TV is available at their residence.

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 nearly 69 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 employs a diverse workforce of more than 228,600 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

####