Verizon Launches New Wave of Interactive Features for FiOS TV Customers in Maryland and Virginia

Company's Advanced Fiber-Optic Network Delivers Customer Experiences That Cable Can't Match

SILVER SPRING, Md., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon FiOS TV - the ultimate home-entertainment experience - becomes even more dynamic for customers inMaryland andVirginia as Verizon introduces new interactive features for the TV service, delivered over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes.

FiOS TV's innovative Interactive Media Guide (IMG), which already provides an unprecedented, next-generation video service, now also gives customers unique new features, including a fantasy sports application, free casual games, purchasing power via remote control, more widgets that provide on-demand access to information and entertainment, and other exciting options.

"FiOS TV gives customers an experience they can't get from cable," said Mary Ellen Payne, vice president of sales and marketing for Verizon'sPotomac region. "The immense two-way capacity of our fiber network allows us to continually introduce interactive capabilities that give our customers richer, more robust and personalized entertainment."

Among the new FiOS TV IMG features now available inMaryland andVirginia are:

    --  Streaming of Recorded HD Video -- Verizon's Home Media DVR now
        allows customers to stream recorded high-definition (HD) programs to six
        other TV sets throughout the home equipped with HD set-top boxes.  The
        feature, which has been available for standard-definition programming,
        includes the ability to watch three separately recorded shows on three
        sets at the same time, plus pause recorded programming in one room and
        continue watching in another.

    --  New channel sorting options -- Verizon FiOS TV customers now can create
        two separate lists of favorite channels for family members.  Customers
        also can now 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.

    --  "Wait for Me" -- Customers can pause live programming, change
        channels, and then return to the paused program and pick up where they
        left off.  No part of a program will be missed with this new feature.

    --  Five new free widgets -- FiOS TV widgets offer customers one-touch,
        on-demand access to local weather and traffic reports shown on TV
        screens.  Now customers have more widgets, including:

              -- Daily national news and sports headlines.
              -- Community news, based on the customer's zip code and
                 featuring information submitted by local municipalities.
              -- Daily horoscopes.
              -- What's Hot on FiOS TV, featuring information on the most
                 popular programs currently being broadcast in a customer's
                 region and the most popular video-on-demand (VOD) titles
                 currently available.

    --  Fantasy Football -- FiOS TV customers who are registered users of ESPN
        Fantasy Football now have instant on-screen access to personalized NFL
        statistics, including rosters, box scores, scoring leaders and player
        information.  FiOS TV customers will be able to access ESPN Fantasy
        Sports through FiOS TV widgets or games.

    --  Instant Upgrades -- Customers can watch VOD offerings from HBO, Cinemax
        and more by subscribing to these premium channel packages straight from
        the VOD menu, with a touch of their remote control.  Customers who
        subscribe to a DVR can instantly upgrade to Verizon's Home Media
        DVR, bundled with the free Media Manager service, without calling
        Verizon to sign up.

    --  Free casual games -- With the remote control, a customer can access
        chess, solitaire, wordplay and Sudoku from the FiOS TV Main Menu and
        play any one of them, at any time.  The chess, solitaire and wordplay
        features are initially available to customers who use Verizon's HD
        set-top boxes.

    --  VOD Performance Enhancement -- Faster response times will enable
        customers to search and select VOD titles more quickly than ever before.

Verizon will also launch several other new IMG features before year-end, including:

    --  "My Videos" -- Customers will be able to access personal
        videos stored on their home computers and enjoy them on their TV sets. 
        This feature is accessed through Verizon's Media Manager service,
        which already allows customers to stream personal music and photographs
        from their PCs to their TVs.

    --  Remote DVR Programming -- Customers who subscribe to FiOS TV's
        Media Manager service will be able to remotely program their FiOS TV
        DVRs and set their Parental Controls through select Verizon Wireless
        handsets and through Verizon's FiOS TV Central Web site
        (www.verizon.com/fiostvcentral).  This site already provides TV listings
        and VOD title-search capabilities, as well as more information on all of
        the IMG features.

FiOS TV is delivered over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes and businesses, providing stunning picture-and-sound quality, more and more HD and VOD choices, a broad spectrum of content diversity, and interactive features that create the ultimate home-entertainment experience.

The service offers a broad collection of programming, with more than 400 all-digital channels and 11,000 VOD titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. The VOD library also includes more than 700 HD titles, and Verizon plans to offer 1,000 HD VOD titles each month by year-end. FiOS TV is currently available to more than 7 million homes in 14 states.

New consumers who sign up for FiOS TV by Oct. 31 are eligible for a year's free use of either an HD DVR or an HD Home Media DVR. 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.

For more information on FiOS TV, consumers can visit www.verizon.com/fiostv or call their local Verizon sales office or 888-438-3467.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered inNew 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.

SOURCE Verizon

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