Verizon bulks up FiOS speeds, adds local NY channel

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is turning up the heat on its FiOS promotions, today announcing new “hyperlocal” news channels for Long Island, NY and Northern New Jersey along with faster upload and download speed packages and new promotions that offer new customers a free notebook computer or digital camcorder.

The new FiOS1 channels will offer news, sports, traffic and weather that is tailored to individual communities, delivered by TV anchors and reporters hired by Verizon and augmented by a partnership with Regional News Network.

“There will be specific content and coverage for those regions,” said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy for Verizon. “We have always had widgets for news, sports and traffic, and now we are bringing those to life and adding real-life community stories. Here the community is the star -- everyone in the community will see themselves in a positive light for sports and community stories, and local residents can submit their own content.”

Verizon will deploy “mojos” – mobile journalists -- equipped with laptop computers and digital cameras to both shoot and edit material in the field and submit it, Ritter said. There will be 10 hours of live news per day and the promise of high school sports coverage including state championships.

Verizon also is promising an “incredibly aggressive” marketing campaign that will highlight its superior upstream bandwidth, with new entry-level FiOS Internet service at 15 megabits per second upstream and 5 Mbps downstream (up from 10 Mbps and 2 Mbps) and a new mid-tier offering at 25/15 Mbps, up from 20/10 Mbps. In some areas of New York, including New York City, Long Island and some other suburbs, FiOS Internet will have an entry-level speed of 25/15 Mbps and a new mid-tier offering of 35/20 Mbps, available only in bundles that include TV service and phone service.

In addition, new customers who sign up for a triple-play service that includes FiOS Internet at 25/15 Mbps or higher, FiOS TV Extreme HD service and FiOS Essentials voice service can get either a Compaq Mini netbook computer, valued at $299.99, or a free Flip Ultra camcorder, valued at $149.99, for the cost of delivery. New customers who order a triple bundle including FiOS Internet at 15/5 Mbps or higher, FiOS TV Essentials service and Freedom Essentials voice service can get the free camcorder or, for $100, the Compaq Mini netbook.

“We wanted to make it a really easy decision to switch from cable or satellite to FiOS,” said Michael Ritter, chief marketing officer for Verizon Telecom. Verizon has faced tough competition in New York, particularly on Long Island, where Cablevision continues to more than hold its own against FiOS.

To develop the local content, Verizon also is partnering with the North Shore - LIJ Health System and other producers on Long Island, The Star Ledger/NJ.com, NJN Public Television, and Star-Ledger columnist Steve Adubato, who is also an award-winning TV host. The Star Ledger will co-produce high school sporting events, which will include games of the week in multiple sports.

The new programming is available immediately at no charge to all FiOS TV subscribers in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island and in parts of 240 communities in nine northern New Jersey counties: Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Morris, Middlesex, Monmouth, Somerset, Passaic and Union.

Verizon has offered hyperlocal content in Washington, DC, where Denson said its FiOS1 channel is “a primary destination for advertising, among the top two or three destinations for advertising in the area.” Verizon will consider offering hyperlocal content on its FiOS services in other regions “on a market-by-market basis,” Denson said.