Verizon, after trailing Comcast and DirectTV in the battle of the DVRs, has launched
FiOS Quantum TV.
The service is expected to be rolled out this week in Delaware. According to Verizon, the service “provides more choices and control, including the ability to record up to 12 shows at once; pause and rewind live TV on any TV in the home; and store up to 200 hours of HD programs.”
Comcast and DirectTV have been upgrading their DVR options and Verizon FiOS may have lost some residential customers who become frustrated with its system that allowed only a couple of shows to taped at once. That also led to the TV being “hijacked” by one of the shows while recording was taking place, a situation that can bring brief periods of turmoil among TV watchers in a home.
With the FiOS Quantum TV’s Premium Service tier, customers can record up to 12 shows simultaneously with the ability to store up to 200 hours of HD programming.
“With FiOS Quantum TV, we’ve taken a giant leap over our competitors by redefining the total TV-viewing experience for our customers, allowing them to enjoy their entertainment in the ways they want,” said Tim Smith, Verizon region president for consumer and mass business operations for Pennsylvania/Delaware. “FiOS Quantum TV will make you look at TV in a whole new way.”
The new service was launched recently in North Texas, Harrisburg, Pa., Pittsburgh and Tampa.
Verizon launched FiOS TV in the area in 2006, and the service is available to nearly 1.5 million households and business in southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware. The company has, for the most part, kept its fiber-optic network at its current size in the past few years, after not striking deals with some municipalities and scaling back future plans.
In addition to the Premium Service tier, FiOS Quantum TV features a lower priced tier of DVR service, known as Enhanced. With the Enhanced Service, customers can record up to six shows simultaneously and store up to 100 hours of HD programming with one terabyte of storage space.
According to Verizon, more than one-third of all TV viewed is recorded content, and adoption of DVR capabilities has grown roughly 60 percent over the past five years. Simultaneous-recording conflicts have also grown as a major source of frustration among viewers of all ages, the company acknowledged.
According to a recent survey 78 percent of respondents nationwide want more DVR storage capacity to record and save more TV programs and movies. Survey responses also revealed that 63 percent want more tuners so everyone can watch and record live TV when they want; 63 percent want to watch DVR-recorded programs on every TV in the house; and 57 percent want to pause, rewind and fast forward live TV programs on every TV in the house.
FiOS Quantum TV customers will use a next-generation set-top box known as a Video Media Server, which is smaller than the existing set-top box and acts as the brains of the FiOS Quantum TV setup.
While many existing customers’ FiOS broadband home routers are compatible with FiOS Quantum TV, certain routers must be replaced. If needed, the required FiOS broadband home router will be supplied at no additional charge to existing FiOS TV customers who are using a Verizon-provided router and who upgrade to FiOS Quantum TV service.
A new FiOS Quantum TV customer with five TVs who orders the Enhanced Service would pay $10 more per month than the charge for standard FiOS TV using a traditional multi-room DVR; a new customer with five TVs who orders the Premium Service would pay $20 more per month.
Installation can be done by the customer or a Verizon technician.
