Allentown, Pa., Residents Major Step Closer to Verizon FiOS TV -- a Better Choice for Cable TV Service

Allentown, Pa., Residents Major Step Closer to Verizon FiOS TV -- a Better Choice for Cable TV Service

City Council Approves Bill Authorizing Verizon to Offer Its Award-Winning FiOS TV Service, Delivered Over Company's All-Fiber-Optic Network Straight to Consumers' Homes

ALLENTOWN, Pa., April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Allentown City Council on Wednesday (April 15) approved a bill authorizing Verizon Pennsylvania to offer its all-fiber-optic powered FiOS TV service to city residents.

As part of the cable franchise agreement, Verizon will make its FiOS TV service available throughout the Lehigh Valley city within eight years. FiOS TV, which is delivered over fiber optics directly to consumers' homes, is an award-winning, superior alternative to traditional cable TV providers' services. FiOS TV includes more high-definition (HD) channels, amazing picture-and-sound quality, and innovative interactive features that traditional cable companies don't provide.

Verizon FiOS TV also offers an advanced search feature that makes it easy to find the program you're looking for, and interactive widgets for news, weather, sports and other features that are available at the press of a button

"This action by the City Council is great news for Pennsylvania's third-largest city," said Gale Y. Given, president of Verizon Pennsylvania. "By delivering a fiber-optic connection that runs all the way to the home, Verizon is providing consumers an entirely new world of options, from super-fast Internet speeds to more than 100 HD channels.

"In addition, Verizon's unprecedented investment to upgrade its network in the city will provide Allentown residents and businesses with future economic development opportunities," said Given.

Following the franchise approval, Verizon will begin the design and upgrade of its network to all-fiber optics and could begin offering FiOS TV and FiOS Internet service later this year in some parts of Allentown.

FiOS TV currently is available to almost 300 communities in southeastern, south-central and western Pennsylvania, as well as parts of 13 other states.

FiOS TV is delivered over Verizon's all-fiber-optic network, which brings the power and capacity of fiber service directly in 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. It also delivers Internet download speeds of up to 50 Mbps* (megabits per second) and upload speeds of up to 20 Mbps, as well as high-quality voice service.

FiOS TV service highlights include:
-- More than 500 all-digital channels grouped by genres such as
entertainment, sports, news, marketplace, movies and family, making it
easy for audiences to find their favorite programming.

-- More than 100 HD channels, with extraordinary clarity and
theater-quality sound.

-- An industry-leading library of 14,000 video-on-demand (VOD) titles
each month, 70 percent of which are free. Verizon's VOD library also
includes more than 1,300 HD VOD titles.

-- An innovative interactive media guide (IMG) that helps customers
quickly and easily find and enjoy content from TV listings, VOD
catalogs and the digital video recorder (DVR), as well as personal
music and photos from a home network.

More information about FiOS services is available at www.verizon.com/fios.

* NOTE: Actual (throughput) speeds will vary.

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 80 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 224,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $97 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.

Source: Verizon

CONTACT: Sharon Shaffer of Verizon, +1-215-963-6200, or
sharon.b.shaffer@verizon.com

Web Site: http://www.verizon.com/

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html

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