Verizon sued over Fios TV numbers

The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that Verizon Communications is being sued by a TV advertiser for overstating the number of customers the company has signed up for its Fios TV service.

Digital Art Services, a media and advertising buying company based in Great River, N.Y., said in its lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, that Verizon fraudulently inflated the number of people signed up for the Fios TV service.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that Verizon included pending customers when it reported total number of subscribers in the New York region, The Wall Street Journal story said. Digital Art Services buys advertising for clients and is claiming that it had to pay more than it should have for advertising on Verizon's Fios TV service as result of these figures.

Eric Rabe, a Verizon spokesman, said that Digital Art Services' claims are unfounded.

"Any assertion that we are being dishonest or inflating numbers is wrong," Rabe said. "Verizon doesn't do that. And people who have dealt with us know that."

Rabe, who hasn't yet seen the lawsuit, added that he thinks the lawsuit is simply a ploy to get out of a contract that Digital Art Services has signed with Verizon to buy a certain amount of advertising on the Fios TV network.

"They want out of the contract," he said. "We think they should fulfill the agreement. So they have filed this lawsuit to pressure us to let them out of the contract."

[heynow777]

FIOS in trouble?

All other providers are beating FIOS in HD content because of Verizon's limited ability to add new HD channels and this is sending current HD customers to providers such as DirectTV with many more HD channels and the new mpeg4.

[bigjohn1111]

Huh?? Limited ability to add??

Why?? Can you give us one technical reason why FIOS can't?? Do
you know anything about Fiber Optic communications??
Example?? Ciena makes some of there equipment which does
customer drops that is currently rated at Gigabit speeds.. Thats
right 1000 mb!! Now you tell me how coax(Standard cable
company) or DirectTV is going to handle that?? FYI, mpeg4 can
be used, it's just a fricking format.. Yeesh.. And oh, I just
switched to FIOS from being a very long DirecTV customer and I
have a 1/3 more HD channels with on Demand HD.. A ton of
them.. So your comment doesn't hold water in the least bit.

[tashman]

Fios Great but verizon sucks

I'd have fios at my house in a second but I can't stand and don't trust verizon at all so they will never get my business.

[mikalg]

Verizon forcing a contractual agreement?!

Please, say it isn't so! Verizon, this isn't a cell phone agreement here. If a customer wants out of the contract, then let them out. Suppose that maybe they may want a future service you may provide that they WILL be happy with? Nope, Verizon wants their money now. Smart shareholders should pay CLOSE attention to this type of corporate behavior in the news. Instead of a loss of a single contract, Verizon is losing a customer/client, for LIFE. Good business today, bad business tomorrow. Makes me not want anything to do with them..... 'er make that two customers lost for life. How about you, dear reader?

[whoooosyourdaddy]

Re: Forcing a contract?

Mikalg -- A contractual agreement being forced? Well, isn't that the purpose of a contract? According to dictionary.com, a contract is a written agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified which is enforceable by law. If they have already reported that contractual money as income on the books, then they have an obligation to their investors and stakeholders to ensure that contracts are upheld. Is there anything truly wrong with that? Let's say that the company tat you work for decided to short you on your paycheck and pay you minimum wage, but you were expecting a paycheck for $20 per hour. Would you allow the company to do that or would it be ok because they changed their mind on how much to compensate you for your work? Now if you are never going to use Verizon services again, that is your prerogative, and good luck to you, but what have they truly done wrong in this article that you would say that?

//signed//
-Dear Reader

[whoooosyourdaddy]

HD Channels?

I would have to agree with you on one point, DirecTv currently has more HD channels than FiOS TV does, that is a fact. Let's look at some other facts, DirecTv has been in the entertainment business since 1994. Last month, DTV launched new HD programming, this month more channels are coming online, and by the end of the year, there are scheduled to be over 100. FiOS has been available now for for a little over a year, and are fighting tooth and nail to penetrate the cable monopolized markets in the Verizon service area, a costly undertaking to say the lease. Now if you look at the HD channel line-up, sure, it isn't as robust as DTV, for now. With over 270 channels available for expanded basic service and over 1000 (yes, that right, thousands) on-demand programs (many free), who is competing with that? DTV? Cable? Hardly. Cable can not keep up with fiber service as their measly coax network is based on a technology from an era gone past and DTV will continue to upgrade and launch new satellites to provide service. Say bye-bye coax, and hello glass.

[whoooosyourdaddy]

Trust

Why don't you trust Verizon?

[Eyeoftherabbit]

Bad Customer Service

I tried to get FIOS for my house, but their customer service is a bunch of nitwits who couldn't handle the simplest question.

I blogged about it here:
http://eyeoftherabbit.wordpress.com/2007/09/07/verizon-fios/

[whoooosyourdaddy]

Bad Service?

Wow, am I impressed. You played stump the chump with a first level sales person. Great Job!! I am sure you feel good with the great technical prowess you displayed. //clap-clap-clap-clap// I am not sure why this is terrible service, though. Are you expecting a network engineer to answer your questions at the first level? Did you ever think to ask, "if you don't have the answer, is there someone there that might be able to answer my technical questions?"

Think for a moment on the technical limitations of coax and then of fiber, same ballpark even?