Move Over Cable TV! Verizon FiOS TV Makes Its Central New York Debut

Verizon Launches New Era of Television Entertainment in 8 Communities

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The age of TV competition has arrived in
central New York.

On Monday (Oct. 5), Verizon begins offering FiOS TV service in parts of eight
communities in the region, bringing consumers there an all-fiber-optic
connection that provides more channels, more HD, more video on demand and
faster Internet speeds than old-fashioned cable TV.

With the introduction in central New York, Verizon is offering its
revolutionary FiOS triple play of TV, Internet and voice services to some
50,000 homes in parts of Clay, East Syracuse, North Syracuse, Cicero, DeWitt,
Salina, Camillus and Fleming.

At the end of October, the company plans to expand availability to
approximately 12,000 more homes. By the end of the year, if additional
franchise agreements are secured and approved, the company hopes to have the
service available to almost 100,000 homes in the region.

Verizon delivers FiOS TV over the nation's largest digital, all-fiber network,
offering more than 600 total channels in New York -- including 121
high-definition (HD) channels in central New York, more HD channels than the
region's current monopoly cable provider, Time Warner, offers.

"Consumers in these communities at long last have a better choice for TV,"
said Christopher Creager, Verizon president and general manager for the
Northeast region. "We've had great success in many other parts of the state.
Now it's time to bring FiOS TV to central New York and provide consumers in
the region a choice that is truly different from the cable TV company.

"Our advanced 100-percent fiber-optic network was built for HD, and right out
of the box we're making more HD channels available than Time Warner has
provided after decades in the business. With all-fiber connections running
straight to their homes, viewers get both high-definition and standard TV that
is eye-popping."

(Note: In a downloadable video podcast, Elaina Mango, Verizon marketing
director for New York, discusses the benefits of FiOS TV in central New York.
It is available at http://verizon.mediaseed.tv/Story.aspx?story=37044.)

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.

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

FiOS is also available to small and medium-sized businesses. Business
customers can learn more about business-grade FiOS services at
www.verizon.com/bizfiostv, or by calling 877-FiOS BIZ (877-346-7249).

FiOS, Fiber Benefits Region
Said Andres Irlando, Verizon president for the New York region, "There are
significant economic development and consumer benefits in Verizon's rollout of
FiOS TV to these central New York communities. Verizon has spent nearly $1
billion dollars in wireline network infrastructure in upstate areas of New
York over the past two years. This kind of investment and community
involvement is in our DNA. We know that to be at the top of our industry --
and we are -- we need to invest in our network and in our customers and
communities.

"Verizon's FiOS initiative, on top of a fully deployed fiber backbone network
in the state, gives New York an advanced telecommunications network that
enables widespread economic development, and leads to further job creation in
industries benefiting from state-of-the-art broadband technology," he said.

FiOS TV Service Highlights

FiOS TV service highlights include:

-- More than 600 all-digital channels in New York 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 121 HD channels available for CNY customers, with
extraordinary clarity and theater-quality sound.
-- An industry-leading library of more than 16,000 video-on-demand (VOD)
titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. In addition, the VOD
library includes more than 1,700 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, 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.
-- 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.

(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

John Bonomo, +1-212-321-8033, John.J.Bonomo@Verizon.com