Verizon is heralding the release of its new digital TV service in Snohomish County as part of a greater nation-wide expansion of the company’s Fiber Optic Service (FiOS) network. The network represents a growing investment by Verizon (currently $24 billion) to provide its customers with a one-stop shopping experience for television, phone and Internet service.
During the official FiOS TV launch event Sept. 9 at the Lynnwood Convention Center, employees and members of the press were encouraged to take advantage of stations set up with televisions and laptop computers to judge the speed and effectiveness of FiOS TV and Verizon broadband Internet for themselves.
“This is liberation day for cable TV subscribers in Washington,” said David S. Valdez, senior vice president for Verizon’s northwest region. “Verizon’s FiOS TV and FiOS Internet service deliver unmatched speeds, incredible picture-and-sound clarity, and innovative new services with a brand people know and trust. Based on consumer reaction in states where we already offer FiOS TV, we expect a huge wave of customers to choose FiOS TV as the better choice than their previous TV provider.”
Since Verizon first launched FiOS TV in Texas three years ago, it has lured 1.4 million consumers across the U.S. from competing carriers. Many of these customers are among the company’s estimated 2 million customers who are already signed up for FiOS Internet nationwide.
“We’re blowing the competition away,” said Jon Davies, manager of Verizon media relations, during the Sept. 9 launch event in Lynnwood. “We’re getting a lot of people who are defecting from cable. They see what we’re doing with our network and they want to be a part of it.”
Verizon’s digital television service is currently offered in 13 states, including California and Oregon, with construction of its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network stretching over 16 states. Washington is the newest state in the network, with more than 90,000 residents already signed up. These communities include Bothell, Brier, Everett, Edmonds, Kenmore, Lynnwood, Mukilteo, Mountlake Terrace, Marysville, Woodinville, Woodway, and adjacent unincorporated areas of Snohomish County.
According to Davies, the bulk of over $100 million deployed so far to lay Verizon’s new fiber network in this state has been spent in Snohomish County.
“Customers here understand the technology; they know how to use it, and we’re at a point where we think the investment we made is going to pay off,” said Dustin P. Kroeger, director of marketing strategy and planning for the west coast.
Not available in all areas
Availability has been a big challenge for Verizon as it works to expand its service areas, particularly in states like Washington where television carriers must negotiate franchise agreements with every city they wish to serve. This is why communities that have a FiOS network installed in their area may not yet have access to all of the services and bundles Verizon has to offer.
“As a utility company, Verizon already has the authority to go in and lay down the fiber network,” said Davies. “As for offering the television service, we still have to abide with thirty-plus-year-old regulations. We can get state-wide approval in places like Texas and New Jersey, and that accelerates the process and allows us to get a lot more communities signed on faster. So let’s say you can get the Internet portion of FiOS, but you can’t get TV until we get the franchise. It’s a three-step process.”
Due to the high cost of setting up its network, Verizon has decided to concentrate its efforts primarily on providing FiOS services to areas where Verizon already has a strong following.
“We can’t affordably go into competitor territory right now, since we don’t have the right-away or central offices there.” said Davies.
The FiOS advantage
The underlying difference between Verizon and its competitors is the network’s fiber optic cables leading from the company’s hub to its customers’ homes. These cables connect to a fiber terminal that helps manage Verizon’s services, replacing the older copper wiring left behind by the previous carrier.
“Our competition has upped their Internet speeds and they’ve been playing fast and loose with the truth,” said Davies. “They tell their customers they have fiber too, but they don’t. You really do need fiber out there all the way to the customer’s home, or you’re going to lose capacity at that last section. With the FiOS network, we can move more signal through, deliver better picture quality, and add more high definition (HD) channels.”
Because of the increased bandwidth supplied by the network, more television channels can be added without removing or compressing existing ones.
“Verizon sees the large investment it has made as a “one-time upgrade,” said Davies, with enough bandwidth to serve its customers far into the foreseeable future.
“FIOS is the bedrock for other things that come along,” he said. “We built up the network, and now it’s the job of other companies to make reasons to have all that bandwidth.”
Verizon’s Internet, TV and phone services are being offered in available areas as an all-in-one bundle, priced as low as $99.99.
What you get
Included in these bundles is one of Verizon’s Freedom Calling plans, advertised as offering unlimited local and long distance calls to countries including the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico; nearly-perfect network reliability; and calling features like home voice mail (where available), caller ID and call waiting.
All of Verizon’s nationwide cellphone plans offer free calls to other Verizon Wireless customers, no domestic roaming or long distance charges, night minutes from 9:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., and weekend minutes from noon Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday. For additional charges, customers can receive Internet access through their mobile devices.
Verizon’s FiOS Internet packages currently range from speeds of 10mbps/2mbps (download/upload) up to 50mbps/20mbps.
“With a 20mb by 20mb connection, you can upload Youtube videos as fast as you can download them,” said Davies. “Once people become aware of it, it sells itself.”
FiOS TV subscribers have access to 98 HD digital channels, as well as over 250 basic channels delivered in a standard-definition digital format. FiOS TV customers also receive a library of over 11,000 Video on Demand (VOD) titles every month, 70 percent of which are free. By yearend, Verizon plans to offer 1,000 HD VOD titles per month.
As an added incentive, new customers who subscribe by Oct. 4 receive a bonus of their choice — a free year’s use of either an HD digital video recorder (DVR) or an HD Home Media DVR. These multi-room DVRs allow customers to stream recorded HD and standard-definition programs to up to six other televisions within the same household. This includes the ability to watch three separately recorded shows on three televisions simultaneously and also to pause recorded programs while someone else continues to watch the same program in another room.
An interactive media guide is included to help customers find TV listings and VOD catalogues. Widgets give FiOS TV subscribers access to local weather and traffic reports, daily local and national news headlines, daily national sports headlines, and community news and horoscopes; all displayed on top of whatever the customer is watching at the time.
Customers can create lists displaying multiple family members’ favorite channels, and filter these channels by genre, separating HD content from international or child programming, among other options.
Using the remote control and Verizon’s HD set-top box, users can play chess, solitaire and wordplay on their television screen, similar to a video game console.
Spanish-speaking viewers can choose La Conexion – a package offering approximately 140 English and Spanish-language channels for an additional fee. International premium channels have also been made available through FiOS TV, includes languages such as Chinese, French, Italian, Korean, Russian and Vietnamese.
“This is a significant time for us because we are entering the market with a product we think is superior and we’re going after customers very aggressively,” said Kroeger. “Technology is always speeding up, and with our FIOS network I think we’re at a point where our competition just can’t catch up.”
Verizon Communications, Inc. is based out of New York, serving over 67 million customers nationwide. It employs approximately 232,000 individuals and in 2007 generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.
For more information, visit www.verizon.com.
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