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(Credit: Verizon)

We just finished a major update of our popular chart of HD programming compared and the new winner, in terms of national and local HD channels, by our count, is Fios TV. Bringing a hefty 83 such channels to bear in the New York City area, the fiber-optic-based TV service from Verizon comes out ahead of perennial satellite champions DirecTV (67 channels) and Dish Network (68) as of today.

The key here is our definition of "national and local." The big three all tout HD channel counts near or above the nice round number of 100 in their advertising campaigns, and by our count of "total channels," they all come more or less close enough, but we took a closer look at the channels themselves, and broke down national and local channels we consider important. That includes local broadcast channels like PBS (which neither satellite service offers), ABC and Fox, premium movie channels like HBO and Max (formerly Cinemax), and the myriad niche channels from ESPN to Mav TV to Palladia to World Fishing Network. We specifically exclude Regional Sports Networks, exclusive channels like Voom (which is only available on NY-area provider Cablevision), and duplicate feeds of premium movie channels, such as HBO (east) and HBO (west) carried by DirecTV and Fios.

Check out the updated HD programming compared chart.... Read more

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Let me start by saying I'm in no way recommending Verizon Fios. Just file this post under "stupid things I noticed while watching TV." OK, so shortly after Verizon started rolling out Fios in New York it began an attack ad campaign against "cable."

In this ad, the installer--the Fios version of the "can you hear me now?" guy--apparently uses Amazon's Kindle reading device to keep track of his installation appointments while his competition from Comcast Time Warner the cable company uses an antiquated clipboard and pen.

Silly? Absolutely. But it's also telling of how Verizon sees itself against its coaxial competition. However, I don't know that "we use technology to get customers, even if it's not the best technology for the job" was the message it was going for.

Click here to watch the commercial.

And if anyone reading has any other "tech used wrong" TV clips to share, please comment. I could use a good laugh; it's been a long Monday.

LAS VEGAS--Verizon Communications is looking toward big cities as the next big opportunity for its Fios broadband and TV service.

The company said Wednesday that it expects to get approval from the New York Public Service Commission to offer its Fios video service in New York City as early as next month.

"Our plan is to cover all of the 3.1 million households in all five boroughs in the next five to six years," Verizon's COO Denny Strigl said during a keynote speech at the NxtComm trade show here. "We will start this year as soon as we receive the approval of the New York Public Service Commission, which we expect will be next month."

Denny Strigl, COO of Verizon Communications, speaks at NxtComm.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon/CNET News.com)

Verizon is also working to get video franchise approval for the Fios TV service in other large cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., Strigl said at a press conference after his keynote.

Verizon sees cities as a huge opportunity for the Fios service, which provides high-speed Internet service, telephony, and cable TV service over a super-fast fiber connection. Because most customers in big cities such as New York City live in large apartment buildings, Verizon has had to adapt its installation process.

This proved to be a technical challenge for the company when it first started deploying Fios a couple of years ago. But the company has since started using bendable fiber optic cabling and has solved many of the issues associated with deploying the service in these buildings.

"Providing Fios in large cities is very important to us because the economics of multiple dwelling units is very good for us," Strigl said at the press conference. "When you think about it, the ability to pass a building that has 300 apartments is much easier than deploying service to an acre or half an acre for a single-family dwelling. So it's a very good growth opportunity for us."

Strigl also confirmed that the company is looking to expand its Fios service out of region on a limited basis. Specifically, he said the company will look to deploy Fios service in neighborhoods that are adjacent to its current footprint. The company has already begun deploying fiber in certain neighborhoods around Dallas, where AT&T also provides service.

But Strigl emphasized that this was not a wide-scale change in strategy to take the Fios service out of region.

"What we are doing on a limited basis is, where it's economical, we are offering the complete Fios solution in neighborhoods next to ones we already serve," Strigl said.

He explained that these neighborhoods can easily be served by existing Verizon central offices, which means the capital expenditure to move into the neighboring area is minimal. He wouldn't say where, other than the Dallas area, Verizon had considered doing this. But he didn't rule out extending service into some areas in California, such as around Los Angeles.

Strigl also announced Wednesday that Verizon has upgraded the speed of its Fios broadband service across its 16 state region. The highest-tier service will offer 50 megabit-per-second downloads and 20Mbps uploads. Verizon had offered this upper tier of service in only a handful of markets previously.

The company has also doubled the upload and download speeds of its lowest-tier Fios broadband service. The service will now offer 10Mbps downloads and 2Mbps uploads.

LAS VEGAS--Verizon Communications is boosting speeds for its Fios fiber-to-the-home service, the company plans to announce Wednesday.

The company's COO Denny Strigl is expected to announce the speed upgrades during his keynote speech at the NxtComm trade show here. The upgrades come as Verizon customers use more bandwidth intensive applications such as video downloading and photo sharing.

"The appetite for bandwidth shows no sign of slowing down," Strigl said in a statement. "Neither will we. We've already had successful trials of the 100-megabit home, which will be a reality faster than anybody thinks."

As part of the upgrade, all Fios customers will now have access to download speeds of 50 megabits per second and uploads of 20 Mbps for about $140 a month. The company is also offering its symmetrical 20 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload service to all Fios customers for $65 a month.

Verizon had already been offering these speeds in certain markets such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. But now the service will be expanded to Verizon's entire Fios customer base, which is spread throughout its 16-state territory. Previously Fios in these states, such as Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, topped out at 30Mbps/15Mbps and 15Mbps/15Mbps.

Verizon will also upgrade its mid-tier offering increasing speeds from 15Mbps/2Mbps to 20Mbps/5Mbps. And the low-end service will increase from 5Mbps/2Mbps to 10Mbps/2Mbps.

(Credit: Verizon)

On Tuesday, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) of New York voted unanimously to approve Verizon's proposal to provide Fios TV service in all five boroughs. The vote moves the service closer to becoming an option for customers in New York to choose over cable or satellite TV.

"If we are successful in the last steps of the approval process, we will deliver on our promise to begin offering Fios TV in parts of each of the five boroughs later this year," Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut, said in a press release. ... Read more

A Verizon commercial implies CNET reviewed the Fios TV service, but we did not.

Verizon is running an ad implying that CNET gave its Fios TV service's picture quality a positive review, calling it "near-flawless." The reality is that a CNET Networks property did use that phrasing in a news story, not a review, and the words are taken out of context.

Adding to the confusion, CNET itself bears some of the blame.

Here's the all-important context: a series of Fios TV spots running in the New York metropolitan area and possibly elsewhere uses a couple of words clipped from a June 21, 2007, CNET News.com piece on Verizon's Fios service. The commercial flashes a quote on the screen that says "near-flawless" along with the CNET logo, while a voiceover proclaims: "Your HDTV doesn't want cable. Give it Verizon Fios, for picture quality the experts call 'near-flawless.'" Another, more-recent ad is also running with a slightly expanded logo-backed quote that reads: "A near-flawless TV experience." Check out the video, which CNET uploaded to YouTube, for the original spot.

Those words did appear on a News.com story (News.com and CNET Reviews are sister sites published by CNET Networks). But the context of the original News.com piece, titled "Verizon's fiber-optic payoff," reads quite differently from how Verizon is using it:

... Read more

Constrained by the technical limitations of its satellite television service, DirecTV has watched from the sidelines as cable operators and phone companies' high-end TV services have rolled out increasingly popular video-on-demand features.

The company is now preparing to launch its own VOD service this spring, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

Called DirecTV On Demand, the service, now offered in beta, is designed to deliver VOD content to customers in two ways: via automatic transmission of selected movie titles, which will be stored on subscribers' digital video recorders and then ordered up for viewing whenever the subscriber wants; and via Internet downloads of additional content, including TV shows, streamed to the subscriber's set-top box.

DirecTV also can track customer activity on its Internet-connected set-top boxes, the Journal report noted, and use the data to help it sell targeted ads.

DirecTV is expected to offer about 3,000 shows and movies, most of which will be delivered over the Net; the company will use the automatic transmission for exceptionally popular programs and movies. Comcast, meanwhile, says it offers about 10,000 pieces of VOD content, much of it for free; movies are available for about $5.

Whether DirecTV On Demand will measure up to alternatives offered by cable and Verizon Communications' Fios service is up for debate. Pricing will certainly be a factor, but so will the timeliness of DirecTV's VOD deliveries. If customers who order a movie or TV program for Net-based delivery to the set-top box have to wait too long for the content to download--and video does eat up a lot of bandwidth--they might be disinclined to use that option. Fios, a fiber-optic-to-the-home system, can deliver large video files in seconds.

Satellite television providers can't stand still, in any case, because cable and phone companies continue to ramp up their TV offerings.

DirecTV itself has been getting flack from subscribers unhappy with the company's drift away from the TiVo digital video recorders it once endorsed and its push toward sales of its own DVR, the HR21-700, which, some users say isn't as versatile as its TiVo counterpart.

Note, though, that use of DirecTV On Demand in beta (and, presumably, in the service's fully launched form) requires a DirecTV-brand high-definition DVR receiver--the HR20 or the HR21--and, of course, some form of broadband Internet service (minimum 750Kbps connection speed), which, of course, is available only through a cable provider or phone carrier. So you want DirecTV On Demand? Buy DirecTV's DVR receiver, and pay your cable/phone broadband bill.

In this environment, DirecTV has to do whatever it can to avoid losing market share.