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First to get Time Warner’s HBO GO? Verizon FiOS

February 17th, 2010, 10:35 am by

Time Warner is toying with a new online video site and announced today that HBOGO.com will offer 600 hours of HBO programming. The first company to sign up, however, isn’t a cable company. It’s Verizon FiOS.

FiOS TV and Internet customers soon will be able to go online and get free, unlimited access to Time Warner-owned HBO programs by signing in with their FiOS log-in credentials at www.verizon.com/fiostvonline. Up to three users in the same household can log in simultaneously. One catch: Users must subscribe to both FiOS TV and Internet. Plus, the content is meant for computer viewing — not TV.

The service starts tomorrow, Feb. 18, for FiOS customers who already subscribe to HBO.

So where are the cable companies, especially Time Warner Cable? The cable division of Time Warner spun off last year so the two similar-named companies are no longer connected.

But I suspect this service will be coming for cable users, since both Time Warner Cable and Comcast are heading up TV Everywhere, a movement to offer TV shows online to paying cable customers. It’s ironic though that a cable company wasn’t the first subscriber of the new Time Warner service.

FiOS already offers customers an online portal to get access to two channels online: Epix and NBC’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics, both are not exclusive to FiOS. Verizon has previously announced that it will also offer TNT and TBS online.

FiOS is available in limited areas of Orange County, including in the cities of Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton and Westminster.

Recent Web TV coverage:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Verizon FiOS gets high-def MSNBC TV

February 11th, 2010, 10:38 am by

Verizon FiOS HD ChannelsNoted: Verizon said today that MSNBC HD is now available on channel 603 for all of its TV customers nationwide.  By its count, FiOS now has 138 HD channels (I’m off by one on my FiOS HD channel count page).

MSNBC HD has been around since June 2009 and is already available on most paid-TV services, including Time Warner Cable and Dish Network.

In Orange County, Verizon offers FiOS TV service in certain parts of cities: Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton and Westminster. When I checked with the company about its O.C. roll out in the past month, Verizon said it continues to pursue potential customers in existing neighborhoods rather than building the service out to new residents.

Recent HD channel news:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Cox offers cheaper TV prices but not all users qualify

February 4th, 2010, 12:30 pm by

Cox Cable logoOne way to save some money on TV service? Commit for a year or two.

It’s a business model that both satellite TV companies have offered for years. Over at Verizon FiOS, new customers will save about $240 over a 2-year period for the company’s most popular TV, Internet and phone bundle. Time Warner Cable began offering its price-lock guarantee program last year, saving customers ordering 3 services a $432 over two years.

Cox Communications, too, is doing the same thing but as one reader discovered, not every  customer qualifies.

John, a Laguna Beach resident, asked for the discount after learning that Cox is raising cable TV and Internet rates in March. But he was told he wasn’t eligible. No one, not even the service manager, could figure out why.

Lana Ong, a Cox spokesperson, cleared it all up: Price lock is just a trial for the company in certain parts of the country, including Orange County. But if your account is delinquent or already getting a good discount, you don’t qualify. Ong responded: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 12 Comments »

Verizon adds paperless coupons for phone, FiOS TV users

February 3rd, 2010, 5:04 pm by

Cellfire coupons on a mobile phoneNoted: Coupons are a pain to remember to use but they do tend to save some money. Today, Verizon teamed up with Cellfire to make using coupons easier for customers with wireless or FiOS TV service. Those customers can sign up at vzspendsmart.com.

Of course, anyone can sign up for the same deals at Cellfire.com. There are two options for redeeming coupons: Pick out deals online and add them to your grocery store loyalty/club card. Or keep the whole process digital and just show the clerk the image on your phone. Unfortunately, the latter isn’t available for most offers here in Orange County. Participants seem to be only grocery stores and Sears.

Verizon doesn’t say whether its customers will get any extra special deals. And it looks like the answer is no. More on the FiOS TV widget HERE.

Fry's coupons from CellfireScanning the site, I noticed Fry’s had coupons! I haven’t been to the electronics store in a long time and didn’t realize it even offered coupons.

The only deal? Just $0.50 off Progresso Soup. Soup? Then I realized, this isn’t Fry’s Electronics. Rather, it was some grocery store named Fry’s Food with a very, very similar logo:

frysvfrys

>>This just in from reader Mike in Yorba Linda (updated 5:41 p.m.): Fry’s Electronics was started by the sons of the Fry’s Grocery store founder, using some of daddy’s money. Hence the similarity. I often go to Arizona, where Fry’s Grocery Stores are common. The signage is nearly identical. As a tech geek, I was somewhat disappointed the first time I went in one. See the link for more info. (Thanks Mike for doing the reporting I didn’t feel like doing.)

Want some real deals? Check out the Register’s Deals blog at ocregister.com/ocdeals. Recent finds:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

48% of people served by Verizon can order FiOS but most don’t

January 26th, 2010, 1:04 pm by

Verizon's FiOS TVThe hottest new TV service to invade North America continued to grow during fourth quarter 2009 but at a much slower rate then ever before. One reason? The price. According to the company earnings report today, the average FiOS TV subscriber pays $140 a month.

By the end of 2009, Verizon said its FiOS service had 3.4 million Internet customers and 2.9 million TV customers.

While still a pidly amount compared to cable TV’s 63 million subscribers, Verizon definitely has made the cable companies cringe. Reports of cable companies suddenly cutting cheaper deals with existing customers aren’t uncommon.

Some of that is bound to be happening here in Orange County, where FiOS has spread ever so slowly in Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton and Westminster. UPDATED, 5:06 p.m.: The company told me today that these are still the only cities in O.C. where FiOS is being offered and, unfortunately, it’s not offered to every resident there. You’ll need to check with Verizon for your home address. The good news for those cities is that Verizon is concentrating on existing neighborhoods where it has already built its fiber-optic service. For the latest, check the Gadgetress FiOS page HERE.

Competition from existing TV services is probably what is causing Verizon FiOS’s growth to peter off. During the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Verizon added the least number of new subscribers in three years. It added an equal number of Internet and TV customers — 153,000 for each service. See the charts below to compare:
2007 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
New FiOS TV subscribers 141,000 167,000 202,000 226,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 348,000 515000 717,000 1 million
2008 1Q 2Q 3Q Q4
New FiOS TV subscribers 263,000 176,000 233,000 226,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 1.2 million 1.4 million 1.6 million 1.9 million
2009 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
New FiOS TV subscribers 299,000 300,000 191,000 153,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 2.2 million 2.5 million 2.7 million 2.9 million

Price is one reason why consumers may balk at Verizon FiOS. While it has more HD channels and faster Internet service then anyone else out there, it costs more. See an earlier story: “Is Time Warner really cheaper than Verizon FiOS?”

Verizon reports that it is making more money each month off each FiOS customer — approximately $140 per user. Overall, this helped boost Verizon’s Internet and video revenues to $1.7 billion during the quarter, up 25.5 percent from the same time last year.
Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

FCC says cable sports hogs must share broadcasts

January 20th, 2010, 12:10 pm by

Federal Communications Commission logo

Updated, 4:08 p.m.: More details are now coming out. The FCC has finally made the 87-page ruling public and issued a press release. Plus I’ve heard from Cablevision. See updates below.
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Noted: The Federal Communications Commission voted today that cable companies who control sports programming must share the game broadcasts with rival satellite TV and Internet TV companies.

UPDATED: Sharing isn’t quite the right word. Today’s ruling created a process where TV providers can petition the FCC if they feel “a cable operator engages in unfair acts with respect to terrestrially delivered, cableaffiliated programming,” says the FCC.

Ultimately, it could mean more “sharing” of regional sporting events as satellite TV and Internet TV providers get a chance to complain about exclusive contracts some cable companies have with local sports teams. Read the full ruling: FCC Issues Order Promoting Competition in the Video Distribution Market.

The impact hasn’t been felt as much here in Orange County but down in San Diego, many paid-TV customers couldn’t watch San Diego Padres games because they weren’t Cox Communications subscribers. Cox has the exclusive rights to show the baseball games and wouldn’t let anyone else broadcast the games, which irked the satellite TV providers and AT&T, which offers U-verse TV service.

(Neither Cox nor Time Warner have exclusivity on Angels baseball games in Orange County, according to both companies.)

In New York, Verizon and AT&T were also shut out of offering regional sports events to their viewers. In August, AT&T filed a complaint with the FCC alleging anti-competitive practices against Cablevision Systems Corp, which owns Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, according to a Reuters report.

Today’s 4-1 FCC ruling prevents cable providers from refusing to let competing providers access the programming. Withholding regional sports programs violates section 628 of the Cable Act and is anti-competitive.

UPDATED: Actually, says Cablevision, it’s not a matter of sharing, but the FCC has established a complaint process. Kim Kerns, with Cablevision, says this:

“While we find the legal basis for the decision unfounded, we are pleased that the FCC recognized the value of Cablevision’s local programming strategy and investments. Verizon and AT&T will not receive an FCC bailout that will allow them to capture News 12, MSG Varsity and other programming that we have developed for our customers. We are also pleased that despite the phone companies’ overwhelming lobbying effort, the FCC has ensured a process that will enable us to demonstrate that no harm has been done to the nation’s two largest phone companies. Our market is the most competitive in the nation and we are confident that we can prove that the phone companies’ poor performance in our marketplace has nothing to do with a lack of HD programming. Verizon and AT&T do not need a regulatory bailout in order to compete.”

Verizon, which competes with Cablevision, said in a press release: ”This is a big-time victory for television sports fans. The FCC’s decision to make must-see regional sports programming, including high-definition feeds, presumptively available to competitors, puts viewers in the driver’s seat,” said Kathleen Grillo, Verizon senior vice president of Federal Regulatory Affairs.

Recent sports TV news:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

Verizon FiOS Internet upload speed hits 35 Mbps!

January 18th, 2010, 4:39 pm by

Verizon's FiOS TVVerizon just announced today faster Internet speeds for FiOS customers of up to 35 megabits per second upload. That’s faster than any Orange County Internet provider’s download speed.

Faster upload speeds means spending less time uploading photos to Facebook, sending giant spreadsheets and other files to coworkers online or regularly backing up computer files to the great big cloud. According to Verizon, the faster 35 mbps speed means uploading a 20-minute HD video in three to five minutes instead of the half hour it takes with a cable Internet connection.

In Orange County, cable companies upload speeds are a measly 1 to 2 mbps.

But most of Orange County can’t order FiOS. The fiber-optic service is a huge investment for Verizon, which needs city permission to lay cables in the neighborhood. The service has only reached residents in parts of Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach Stanton, Westminster and certain unincorporated areas.

Those of us who can’t order Verizon FiOS can, at least, take heart that we won’t be subject to the service’s new early termination fees.

Separately, Verizon confirmed that customers who drop out before their two-year contract ends could be forced to cough up an extra $360. Previously, the fee was $179.  The higher early-termination fee does drop by $15 every month the customer keeps the service, which means by month 23, exiting customers will be charged $15.

The new Internet upload speeds of 25 Mbps up and down, and 35 mbps up and down, upgrade existing plans. Here’s the low down of FiOS TV/Internet bundles:

FiOS plans Price
Ultimate: TV service with 90+ HD channels, Internet speed of 35 mbps up/down, phone $139.99
Extreme: TV service with 65 HD channels, Internet speeds of 25 mbps up/down, phone $124.99
Prime: TV service with 40 HD channels, Internet speed of 15 mbps down, 5 up, phone $109.99

More details on the new bundles HERE at Verizon’s site.

Notable special: Verizon is offering a major FiOS discount to new customers — $20 discount each month for first 12 months for Prime plan, $10 discount for either the Extreme or Ultimate plan.

More on Verizon FiOS:

Posted in: Internet • Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 20 Comments »

Verizon: Leaked price hikes won’t impact current FiOS customers

December 22nd, 2009, 12:29 pm by

Verizon FiOS signUPDATE, 2:33 p.m.: Verizon has verified that the only announced price hike for existing FiOS TV customers is that premium channels like HBO, HBO/Cinemax and the Movie Package will each increase by $1 as of Jan. 17.
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As the year winds down and TV customers learn how much more TV service will cost next year, existing Verizon FiOS customers may have lucked out.

Verizon responded to a report that FiOS TV bills will go up $10 to $20 a month with this:

“We have no comment – we have made no such announcement. That being said, please keep in mind that anything we might possibly do going forward would not impact our current customers,” said Heather Wilner, a Verizon spokeswoman, in an e-mail response to my question.

BroadbandReports.com noticed new pricing plans after they were accidentally posted on a public Verizon Web site. The page showed price hikes between $10 to $20 depending on the bundle, starting on Jan. 17, 2010. It also noted that the basic “TV Essentials” package was being replaced. The site hones in on a new feature: a $360 early termination fee. Read BroadbandReports story, “Leaked 2010 Verizon FiOS Rate Hike Info.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 8 Comments »

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