Verizon Communications Inc. : Verizon’s Next Generation of Interactive FiOS TV Comes to New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island

Verizon's Next Generation of Interactive FiOS TV Comes to New York, MassachusettsRhode Island

Company's Powerful FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide Operating System Includes Many Innovative Upgrades Developed With Customer Feedback

NEW YORK - January 11, 2012 -

FiOS TV subscribers in the Northeast woke up Tuesday morning (Jan. 10) to a new way of interactingenjoying their TV experience.

The new benefits are the result of Verizon's continued transformation of FiOS TV viewing by bringing the next generation of its Interactive Media Guide to subscribers in the company's New York, MassachusettsRhode Island service areas.  More than 4.2 million households in these states can now take advantage of award-winning FiOS TVthe advanced IMG.

, the FiOS TV IMG was the first broadband platform to pull together content from broadcast TV, the Internetusers' own personal media into one media-management system.  It has since evolved into an in-depth, interactive TV experience, with applications for advanced/intuitive search, social networking, Internet video, personal media streaming, high-definition music, remote DVR controls, account managementbilling functions, multi-screen/mobile viewingmuch more.

The company used customer feedback taken in through its product development labs, field trialsonline consumer forums to create many of the more than 25 new upgrades to FiOS TV's advanced IMG that are now available to subscribers in the tri-state area.  The enhancements include greater personalizationcustomization, easier navigation, deeper search, bigger storage optionsoptimization for new 3D technology.  To learn more about the customer participation in the development of the IMG's new capabilities, view this video: .

"Customers are at the center of everything we do,that includes how we develop our productsservices," said Susan Retta, vice president of marketing for Verizon's Northeast area.  "FiOS TV isn't about passive video watching - it has evolved into an entertainmentinformation destination.  Our new generation of FiOS TV is all about simplicity of design, increased user interactivityease of use.  It's yet another way we want our customers to get the most out of their FiOS services."

FiOS TV customers can find out more about the upgrades on the website.  A short video highlighting some of the changes can be viewed at .

Highlights include:

• Improved search capabilities, which provide a smarter search function that predicts what the customer is looking forautomatically provides potential matches.  FiOS TV customers also can filtersort by channel,more easily locate favorite programs.
  
  
• DVR enhancements, which give FiOS TV customers more control with the following:
  
  
  • DVR chaptering, giving viewers DVD-like capabilities to jump ahead or resume viewing at a particular moment of recorded programming by using on-screen thumbnails in 10-minute increments, providing more visual navigation.
    
    
  • Multi-hub DVR, which turns any DVR or HD set-top box in the home into a "hub," allowing customers to recordmanage DVR settings from any room in the home, provided one of the DVRs is a multi-room DVR.
    
    
  • eSATA external storage device compatibility, available with most FiOS TV DVRs, allowing for increased overall storage capacity.  The eSATA hard drives can be purchased at most consumer electronics storeswill automatically record customer selections once plugged into the DVR.
    
    
  • New "play all""delete all" options, allowing customers to play episodes back-to-backautomatically delete all episodes of a show with the push of a button.
    
    
• Personalization features, which let FiOS TV customers enjoy entertainment on their own terms, including:
  
  
  • New parental control options that make monitoring children's viewing even easier, with the ability to block out portions of programming by rating during key hours of the day, like homework time,schedule certain times for Parental Controls to be automatically turned onoff for greater flexibility.
    
    
  • Guide customization, enabling a variety of settings, with a mini guide on the bottom of the screen, a half guide on the right side of the screen,a full guide with a look at more hours of scheduled programming.
    
    
• 3D content software, which automatically detects when a customer tunes to a 3D program or channelinstantly changes the necessary settings for watching those programs on a 3D television set.

Verizon's FiOS TV Interactive Media Guide can be accessed with the FiOS TV remote control or by using Verizon's , which turns an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Android device into a remote control for a FiOS HD set-top box, making parental controls, customized interactive applicationsprogram recording options easy to access.

The next-generation FiOS TV is built upon a long series of innovations, including , which extend FiOS TV beyond the home to the Interneta range of mobile devices; free interactive applications including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, HSN Shop By Remote, TMZothers; Media Manager, which allows customers to access on their TVs personal photos, musicvideos from their computers;, which frees customers to use simple online tools to diagnoseresolve a range of service issues.

Existing FiOS TV subscribers can find out more information by tuning to FiOS Channel 131, or visiting .

For the latest news, updatesinformation about FiOS TV, visit www.verizon.com/newscenterhttp://www.verizon.com/athomeblog.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadbandother wirelesswireline communications services to consumer, business, governmentwholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, with more than 107 million total connections nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, informationentertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network,delivers integrated business solutions to customers in more than 150 countries, including all of the Fortune 500.  A Dow 30 company with $106.6 billion in 2010 revenues, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 195,000.  For more information, visit .

####