Verizon Launches a New Era of Television Entertainment With the Debut of FiOS TV in Pittsburgh

Verizon Launches a New Era of Television Entertainment With the Debut of FiOS TV in Pittsburgh

Introduction of FiOS TV Brings More Than 120 HD Channels, New Level of TV Innovation and Interactivity to City Residents, Businesses

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Pittsburghers finally can choose a TV service that is truly worthy of the City of Champions - FiOS TV from Verizon.

"Consumers in this city at long last have a better choice for TV," said Mary Yarbrough, vice president of marketing and sales operations for Verizon's Mid-Atlantic region. "Today, they join consumers in many suburban communities across southwestern Pennsylvania who are enjoying FiOS TV."

FiOS TV offers more than 600 channels, including more than 120 high-definition (HD) channels in Pittsburgh -- more HD channels than the city's current cable provider, Comcast.

"Our advanced fiber-optic network was built for HD, so FiOS TV offers an HD experience that cable can't touch," said Yarbrough. "With all-fiber connections running straight to their homes and businesses, viewers get eye-popping, jaw-dropping TV in both standard and high definition."

(NOTE: A downloadable video podcast featuring Yarbrough discussing the launch of FiOS TV in Pittsburgh is available at http://verizon.mediaseed.tv/Story.aspx?story=37007.)

Pittsburgh residents who are FiOS TV-eligible now have the option to trim their monthly bills with packages that include FiOS TV, FiOS Internet and voice service for as little as $79.99 a month for the first six months. Customers who sign up for a qualifying FiOS service before Dec. 19 may be eligible for $150 cash back.

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

Small and medium-sized businesses interested in business-grade FiOS services can visit www.verizon.com/bizfiostv, or call 877-FiOS BIZ (877-346-7249) for more information.

FiOS TV Service Highlights

FiOS TV service highlights include:

-- More than 600 all-digital channels 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 122 HD channels available for Pittsburgh customers, with
extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.

-- An industry-leading library of more than 15,000 video-on-demand (VOD)
titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. In addition, the VOD
library includes more than 1,500 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 weather and 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.
-- RedZone Widget - One-stop access to NFL stats and the NFL
RedZone channel. Customers who subscribe to the RedZone
channel can set on-screen alerts for whenever a team is moving
inside its opponent's 20-yard line. The alerts, once set, 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.
-- 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. This 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 24 x 7 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.

FiOS TV is currently available to more than 10.3 million homes and businesses in 14 states: California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Verizon introduced FiOS TV in southwestern Pennsylvania in November 2007 and offers FiOS TV to more than 250,000 households in nearly 80 suburban communities across the region.

(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), 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.

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: Lee Gierczynski, +1-412-633-5574,
lee.j.gierczynski@verizon.com

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

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

-------
Profile: intent