Verizon FiOS TV enters Vineland homes at light speed
By ERIK ORTIZ
Staff Writer, 609-272-7253
Published: Friday, October 10, 2008
Verizon has officially entered the cable television market in southeastern New Jersey, announcing this week that its FiOS TV service is now available in parts of Vineland and will continue to expand throughout the city.Elsewhere in Cumberland County, fiber-optic service, or FiOS, will be made available in Bridgeton, where the telecommunications company started creating a network earlier this year.But a firmer timeline for when FiOS TV will start rolling out in Bridgeton, as well as Atlantic and Cape May counties, is unavailable.Verizon New Jersey spokesman Richard J. Young said that under the state's franchise law, it is required to start offering the service in each county seat by the end of 2009. That means Mays Landing in Atlantic County and Cape May Court House in Cape May County must be among the first communities in the region to receive it."We are fully confident that we'll make the agreement," Young said in an e-mail Thursday.
FiOS TV has been available mostly in heavily populated northern New Jersey. About a year ago, the service was offered in Toms River, Ocean County, and a network was being built around Berkeley Township.Verizon is spending about $23 billion to replace its lines across the country with all-digital, fiber-optic cables. The company says the upgrade allows for faster Internet download speeds and an alternative to the other cable providers, such as Time Warner and Comcast. The conversion will continue through 2010.Verizon's television subscription plans include local basic service for $12.99 per month and an expanded service called FiOS TV Premier for $47.99 per month.Its bundling package - a combination of phone, Internet and FiOS TV - begins at $94.99 per month.Philadelphia-based Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, has a similar bundling package starting at $109.99 per month."We compete every day for video, Internet and phone customers, and we have not seen anything in Verizon's road map that we can't exceed," Comcast spokesman Fred DeAndrea said. "All of Comcast's products and services are available today throughout our entire South Jersey footprint, something that Verizon will not achieve for many years to come, if at all."Verizon hopes to gain about 4 million FiOS customers by 2010. It currently has about 1.4 million television subscribers nationwide.On Thursday, the company also unveiled its "Expert Care" service for customers having technical troubles with their phones, computers or televisions. The service includes product protection plans, online and telephone assistance and on-site tech support.E-mail Erik Ortiz:EOrtiz@pressofac.com
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