Community Approves Video Franchise for Verizon

NEW YORK, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of the Town of Bedford in
Westchester County are a major step closer to having a real choice for their
cable television service, thanks to a newly approved agreement authorizing
Verizon to offer its FiOS TV service, delivered over the most advanced
fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes.



Bedford's town board approved a franchise agreement Tuesday night (Nov. 24).



The addition of the Bedford cable television franchise brings to 169 the total
number of New York municipalities that have authorized Verizon to provide FiOS
TV service.



"A total fiber network triggers key differentiators and technology innovations
like FiOS' multi-room DVR and on-screen Twitter and Facebook applications," said
Andres Irlando, Verizon president for the New York region. "These are features
that traditional cable just can't provide. And this franchise agreement clearly
demonstrates the customer demand for choice in broadband, television and
entertainment services."



One of the largest New York employers with more than 32,000 employees in the
state, Verizon is continuing to invest in the state's infrastructure by
building, maintaining and enhancing its wireline and wireless networks across
New York, including its state-of-the-art fiber-optic network, providing
consumers and businesses with reliable FiOS services for their Internet,
entertainment and voice services.



FiOS TV Service Highlights



FiOS TV service highlights include:



    --  More than 500 all-digital channels grouped by genres such as
        entertainment, sports, news, shopping, movies and family, making it easy
        for audiences to find their favorite programming.
    --  132 HD channels in the downstate New York market, with extraordinary
        clarity and theater-quality sound.
    --  An industry-leading library of more than 18,000 video-on-demand (VOD)
        titles each month, 70 percent of which are free. In addition, the VOD
        library includes 2,400 HD titles per month.
    --  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. Among the features of the IMG are:
        o Multi-Room DVR - Verizon's Home Media DVR allows customers to stream
          recorded HD and standard-definition programs to up to six other TV
          sets with set-top boxes 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.
        o 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.
        o 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.
        o Widgets - Customers have one-touch, on-demand access to local traffic
          reports, daily local and national news headlines, fantasy sports,
          daily national sports headlines and daily horoscopes, as well as FiOS
          TV's Widgets Bazaar with interactive social applications from Facebook
          and Twitter. 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.
          # Pro Football 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.
          # Weatherbug Widget - Provides instant access to real-time,
            personalized weather information and forecasts. Customize weather
            reports by any ZIP code, pull up hourly or seven-day forecasts and
            view radar weather imagery to see how local conditions are
            developing
          # 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.
        o Free casual games - With the remote control and an HD set-top box,
          customers can access chess, solitaire, sudoku and wordplay.
        o "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.
        o 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.
        o 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 only
          may 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 in every market, making FiOS TV an outlet
for emerging and independent networks to showcase their diverse programming.



Verizon's fiber network 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. In addition to FiOS TV,
Verizon's fiber network 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.*



Bedford joins a growing list of New York communities that are paving the way for
competition and choice in the television market. In addition to Bedford, Verizon
has been granted cable television franchises in the following municipalities:



City of New York



Long Island

Amityville, Asharoken, Atlantic Beach, Babylon, Baxter Estates, Bayville,
Bellerose, Brightwaters, Cedarhurst, Centre Island, Cove Neck, East Hills, East
Rockaway, East Williston, Farmingdale, Floral Park, Flower Hill, Freeport,
Garden City, Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Head of the
Harbor, Hempstead (Town), Hempstead (Village), Hewlett Bay Park, Hewlett Harbor,
Huntington, Huntington Bay, Islip, Kensington, Kings Point, Lake Grove, Lake
Success, Laurel Hollow, Lawrence, Lindenhurst, Lloyd Harbor, Long Beach,
Lynbrook, Malverne, Manorhaven, Massapequa Park, Mill Neck, Mineola, Munsey
Park, New Hyde Park, Nissequogue, North Hempstead, North Hills, Northport, Old
Field, Oyster Bay, Oyster Bay Cove, Plandome, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor,
Poquott, Port Washington North, Rockville Centre, Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn
Harbor, Russell Gardens, Saddle Rock, Sands Point, Sea Cliff, Smithtown, South
Floral Park, Stewart Manor, The Branch, Thomaston, Valley Stream, Westbury,
Williston Park



Westchester County

Ardsley, Briarcliff Manor, Bronxville, Buchanan, Cortlandt, Dobbs Ferry,
Eastchester, Elmsford, Greenburgh, Irvington, Larchmont, Mamaroneck (Town),
Mamaroneck (Village), Mount Kisco, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, New Castle, New
Rochelle, North Castle, Ossining (Town), Ossining (Village), Peekskill, Pelham
Manor, Port Chester, Pound Ridge, Rye, Rye Brook, Scarsdale, Sleepy Hollow,
Tarrytown, Tuckahoe, White Plains, Yonkers, Yorktown



Rockland County

Airmont, Chestnut Ridge, Clarkstown, Grandview-on-Hudson, Haverstraw (Town),
Haverstraw (Village), Hillburn, Montebello, New Hempstead, Nyack, Orangetown,
Piermont, Pomona, Ramapo, South Nyack, Spring Valley, Stony Point, Suffern,
Upper Nyack, Wesley Hills, West Haverstraw



Dutchess County

Fishkill (Town), Fishkill (Village), Poughkeepsie (City), Poughkeepsie (Town),
Wappinger, Wappingers Falls



Orange County

Cornwall, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Newburgh (City), Newburgh (Town)



Erie County

Amherst, Blasdell, Hamburg (Town), Hamburg (Village), Kenmore, Lackawanna,
Orchard Park (Town), Orchard Park (Village), Tonawanda, West Seneca



Putnam County

Carmel, Kent



Onondaga County

Camillus (Town), Cicero, Clay, DeWitt, East Syracuse, Fayetteville, Geddes,
North Syracuse, Salina, Skaneateles (Town), Skaneateles (Village), Solvay



Cayuga County

Fleming, Owasco, Sennett



* NOTE: actual (throughput) speeds will vary.



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 89
million customers nationwide. Verizon also provides converged communications,
information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic
network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers
around the world. A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more
than 230,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $97
billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.




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SOURCE Verizon