Verizon's FiOS TV Brings New Level of Choice, Competition for Television Entertainment to New Castle, Del., Residents

Introductory Monthly Bundle Price of $79.99 Gives Consumers Even More Reason to Switch to Verizon FiOS TV, Internet and Voice Services

• Press Release
• Source: Verizon
• On 10:16 am EDT, Friday October 23, 2009

NEW CASTLE, Del., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents here now have a superior choice for television entertainment delivered over a superior all-fiber-optic network -- FiOS TV from Verizon.

Verizon's award-winning FiOS TV service is now available to more than 2,000 households in parts of New Castle. The service offers consumers a wide array of programming, nearly 130 high-definition (HD) channels, more video on demand (VOD) and faster Internet speeds than old-fashioned cable TV.

"Consumers in New Castle at long last have a better alternative for TV," said Bill Allan, president of Verizon Delaware. "FiOS TV, with its innovation and interactivity, gives consumers a truly different experience than they can get from their traditional cable TV company."

The New Castle City Council on Oct. 15 approved a 12-year franchise authorizing Verizon to offer its FiOS TV to city residents. As part of the cable franchise agreement, Verizon will make FiOS TV available throughout the city within five years.

Where FiOS TV is available, consumers now have the option to bundle FiOS TV service, FiOS Internet service and the Verizon Freedom Essentials unlimited calling plan, for as little as $79.99 a month for the first six months. Consumers also can combine Verizon Wireless service, Freedom Essentials, FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services into money-saving "quad-play" bundles that cable companies can't offer.

Customers interested in FiOS TV can visit www.verizon.com/fiostv or call 1-888-GET FiOS (888-438-3467) for more information.

FiOS TV Service Highlights

FiOS TV service highlights include:

• More than 600 all-digital channels in New Castle grouped by genres such as entertainment, sports, news, marketplace, music, movies and family, making it easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.
• A total of 129 HD channels available in New Castle, with extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
• An industry-leading library of more than 18,000 video-on-demand (VOD) titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. In addition, the VOD library includes more than 2,400 HD titles per month.
• An innovative interactive media guide (IMG) that provides next-generation, personalized interactive services, along with content from TV listings, VOD catalogs and the digital video recorder (DVR), as well as personal music, videos and photos from a home network. Among the features of the IMG are:
  • Multi-Room DVR - Use one DVR to record HD and 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.
  • Media Manager - This feature lets FiOS DVR customers access personal photos, videos, music and slide shows from their home computers and play them on their TVs. Subscribers also can search for and enjoy online videos from blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh on their TV screens.
  • Remote DVR management - Subscribers can remotely control their DVRs online, and via any cell phone with a data plan. Customers can use the service to remotely review, change or add recording requests; delete recorded programs; browse and search TV and VOD listings; set parental controls; and more.
  • Widgets - Customers have one-touch, on-demand access to personalized information such as local traffic reports, daily local and national news headlines, fantasy sports, daily national sports headlines, and daily horoscopes, as well as interactive social TV applications from Twitter and Facebook, all while still enjoying their TV programming. Additional widgets include:
    • ESPN 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.
    • Pro Football Widget - One-stop access to NFL stats and the NFL RedZone channel, giving customers who subscribe to the channel the ability to set on-screen alerts for whenever a team is moving inside its opponent's 20-yard line. The alerts, once set up, pop up at the bottom of the TV screen while subscribers are watching any channel.
    • KODAK Widget - This widget gives registered KODAK Gallery users instant on-screen access to photos and slideshows that they have stored on Kodak's online digital photo service.
    • Weatherbug Widget - Provides instant access to real-time, personalized weather information and forecasts. Users can customize weather reports by any ZIP code, pull up hourly or seven-day forecasts and view radar weather imagery to see how local conditions are developing.
  • Free casual games - With the remote control and an HD set-top box, customers can access chess, solitaire, sudoku 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.
  • Dual Pause and Play - 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 may only want to see HD content, international channels or kids programming, among others.

Programming choices for Hispanic, African-American, Asian, Russian and other multicultural audiences are available, making FiOS TV an outlet for emerging and independent networks to showcase their diverse programming.

FiOS TV is delivered over Verizon's all-fiber-optic network, which brings the power and capacity of fiber optics directly into people's homes and has industry-leading quality and reliability. Fiber delivers amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen. The network also offers FiOS Internet Service, which delivers downstream speeds of up to 50 Mbps (megabits per second) and upstream speeds of up to 20 Mbps, as well as high-quality voice services.

Free Verizon Wi-Fi access at thousands of locations across the U.S. is available for FiOS Internet customers with up to 20 Mbps-or-faster packages. Free Wi-Fi hot-spot locations include hotels, airports, restaurants, coffee shops, retailers and other public locations across the U.S. For a list of hot-spot locations, visit www.verizon.com/hotspots.

The value of FiOS TV extends to installation and customer support. Specially trained Verizon technicians will install the service for up to three existing TV outlets and acquaint subscribers with FiOS TV features and services. Verizon provides 24x7 technical assistance by phone from its Fiber Solutions Centers.

Verizon FiOS customers also have access to the Verizon In-Home Agent, a free application that gives them valuable tools to set up services, configure Wi-Fi links, set up and manage voice mail, auto-fix video problems, trouble-shoot and correct Internet issues - all with the simple click of a mouse.

(More information about FiOS TV and fiber optics is available in Verizon's online News Center at www.verizon.com/news.)

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ - News), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 87 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations provide converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. Wireline also includes Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $97 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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