Verizon Communications started offering its FiOS TV service in the greater metro area of Portland, Ore.
With this initial rollout, FiOS TV will be available to 152,000 households where Verizon’s FiOS voice and Internet service are already available. The areas covered in the immediate rollout include Aloha, Beaverton, Cornelius, Dundee, Durham, Hillsboro, King City, McMinnville, Newberg, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville. Forest Grove and Sherwood will be turned on later in the month.
Verizon is aggressively pushing the rollout of its all-fiber FiOS TV service to compete with cable operators that are making inroads into voice products. The company now has FiOS TV available in parts of 13 states including Oregon, where it planted more than 6.5 million feet of fiber in the Portland area and hired more than 125 employees over the past two years.
To go head-to-head with cable, Verizon will market its bundle of FiOS TV and Internet and its Freedom Essential calling plan starting at $104.99 per month with a two-year commitment.
"This is liberation day for disgruntled cable TV customers in metro Portland," Verizon senior vice president of public affairs, policy and communications for the Northwest David Valdez said in a statement. "Verizon FiOS data and television service delivers unmatched speeds, incredible picture and sound clarity and innovative new services from a brand people know and trust.”
As a competitive differentiator, Verizon threw its hat into ring in the battle over HD superiority this fall. Satellite-TV operator DirecTV took the lead in offering the most HD linear channels, pledging a 100-channel lineup by the end of the year and 150 by the end of 2008. To complement smaller linear lineups, cable operators countered with robust HD on-demand libraries, which direct-broadcast satellite providers can’t replicate.
Verizon plans to offer both, announcing that it will match DirecTV’s 150-channel lineup by the end of next year, while also offering 1,000 titles on-demand.
At the end of the third quarter, Verizon had 717,000 FiOS TV and 1.3 million FiOS Internet subscribers.
