Verizon Adds 23 New Channels to FiOS TV Lineup - Including 18 in HD - for Pittsburgh-Area Customers

Verizon Adds 23 New Channels to FiOS TV Lineup - Including 18 in HD - for Pittsburgh-Area Customers

First in Series of Content Additions Offers Sports Programming, Including Big Ten Network, and Beats Comcast With More HD

New FiOS TV Customers Eligible for a Free High-Def DVR for 12 Months and Free Month of HBO and Cinemax

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon FiOS TV is now even better for customers in the Pittsburgh area as the company has launched 23 new channels, including 18 additional high-definition (HD) channels.

With this enhancement to the FiOS TV lineup, Verizon now offers consumers more HD channels than Comcast.

FiOS TV customers in the Pittsburgh area now have more than 440 HD choices available at any time, with a total of 45 HD channels and more than 400 HD video-on-demand (VOD) titles offered each month. Verizon will continue expanding its FiOS TV channel lineup this year, with a major focus on HD content. By year-end, Verizon plans to offer all available major HD programming.

To make the offer even sweeter, Verizon announced Tuesday (Aug. 12) that consumers who sign up for FiOS TV between now and Oct. 4 are eligible for a year's free use of either an HD DVR (digital video recorder) or an HD Home Media DVR. With Verizon's unique Home Media DVR, customers can use one DVR to record programming that can be watched on up to six other TV sets in the home. This includes viewing up to three separately recorded programs simultaneously on different TV sets, and the ability to pause recorded programming on one set and continue watching it on another. FiOS TV's Home Media DVR is bundled with Media Manager, a feature that allows customers to access photos and music from their personal computers and play them on their TV.

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 over 25 premium channels and access to hundreds of additional titles on VOD. New customers who take advantage of this offer will save between $200 and $260.

"FiOS TV is the only service to consider if you want the ultimate HD experience," said Phil Brown, Verizon vice president of marketing for Pennsylvania and Delaware. "With our increased number of HD channels, along with HD video-on-demand programming and our current HD DVR and premium movie promotion, we're blowing cable away."

Verizon Leads the Way With 18 New HD Channels, and More to Come

"There's HD on FiOS, and then there's everything else," said Brown. "The immense capacity of our advanced network means FiOS TV customers receive HD signals just as Verizon receives them, with stunning picture-and-sound quality that's noticeably better, delivered on the network that's made for HD."

FiOS TV customers in the Pittsburgh market will now have a total of 45 HD channels and will get to see some of their favorite channels in HD, including Animal Planet, TLC, Science Channel and Smithsonian Channel. Other new HD programming that FiOS TV customers in the region will receive includes CNN, CNBC, Lifetime, Bravo, TBS, USA, Cinemax, HBO, History Channel, Weather Channel and SCI FI.

In addition, later this year, those customers who subscribe to FiOS TV's Movie Package -- which already includes more than 40 channels from Showtime, Starz, The Movie Channel, Encore, Sundance Channel and IFC, as well as access to hundreds of free movies on VOD -- will have access to five new HD channels from Starz and Showtime. The new channels are: Starz Edge, Starz Comedy, Starz Kids and Family, Showtime West and Showtime 2.

Big Ten Network and More Sports Content

For sports fans in southwestern Pennsylvania, Verizon has launched three new HD sports channels. Verizon has always placed a high priority on major sports programming and offering as much as possible in HD.

Fans can follow Penn State college basketball and football action on the Big Ten Network, which is available in both standard- and high-definition formats on FiOS TV. In addition, Verizon has launched two other new HD sports channels -- Versus/Golf Channel, which features live NHL games and PGA Tour events, as well as original sports-related programming; and the Outdoor Channel 2, which provides high-definition programming that promotes traditional outdoor activities like fishing, hunting and shooting sports.

Verizon also is now offering Setanta Sports, a premium channel dedicated to bringing European and International soccer and rugby to U.S.-based fans. Currently, no other cable provider offers Setanta.

New Multicultural Content for Diverse Audiences

Verizon has been focused on bringing a range of diverse, multicultural content to its FiOS TV customers. Verizon will soon offer Pittsburgh-area customers 15 new multicultural channels, including leading channels for Arabic, Portuguese and Russian audiences, among others. These new channels continue to make FiOS TV an outlet for emerging and independent networks to showcase their diverse programming.

Much of the multicultural content comes from World TV, a division of content management and delivery company GlobeCast, which previously signed a distribution deal with Verizon for top-tier international channels. The new GlobeCast World TV international television channels include MBT (Arabic), RTPI (Portuguese) and RTR Planeta (Russian). In addition to the WorldTV content, Verizon will offer Filipino channel GMA Pinoy TV.

Pittsburgh-area customers join those in Indiana, Oregon, New York and Northern New Jersey to receive new content on the FiOS TV channel lineup. During the next few months, Verizon will roll out this new content and more, region by region, in other areas where FiOS TV is available.

Verizon's FiOS TV service offers a broad collection of all-digital programming, with more than 400 total channels and 11,000 video-on-demand titles, 70 percent of which are free. The VOD library also includes an increasing number of HD titles, and Verizon plans to have 1,000 HD VOD titles per month by the end of the year. FiOS TV is currently available to more than 7 million homes in 13 states. For more information on FiOS TV, visit www.verizon.com/fiostv. Consumers can also call their local Verizon sales office or 888-438-3467.

[Note: A complete channel lineup can be found online at http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/channel+lineup/channel+lineup.htm .]

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.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high-quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

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Source: Verizon

CONTACT: Heather Wilner, +1-212-321-8333, heather.b.wilner@verizon.com,
or Lee Gierczynski, +1-412-633-5574, lee.j.gierczynski@verizon.com, both of
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Web Site: http://www.verizon.com/
http://www22.verizon.com/content/fiostv/channel+lineup/channel+lineup.htm

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