Verizon Communications will launch its FiOS TV service Monday in New York City to 300,000 households, offering the triple play at $94.99 per month, and it expects to pass 500,000 with FiOS by year-end.
That price matches the triple play in surrounding areas.
The telco said a mass-media ad campaign also begins Monday. It is taking on incumbents Cablevision Systems, Time Warner Cable and RCN.
Verizon received regulatory approval to offer its Internet-protocol-TV service July 16. Within a few years, it promised to make FiOS TV available to 3.1 million homes in the city.
The telco will offer 100 HDTV channels to the metro New York market, 54 of which are provided at no extra charge. It said this tops cable HD. "The immense capacity of our advanced network means FiOS TV customers receive HD signals just as Verizon receives them, without the additional compression that some cable companies perform,” Verizon vice president of video solutions Shawn Strickland said in a statement.
HD channels include Animal Planet, TLC, FX, USA Network, Bravo, TBS, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, Science Channel, Sci Fi Channel and Smithsonian Channel.
FiOS Internet service comes with a maximum connection speed of 20 megabits per second downstream and 5 mbps upstream. For extra fees, 20/20 mbps is available.
Its triple play includes video, broadband and voice, which provides unlimited local and long-distance.
