Verizon Unveils More Interactive TV Features, Including Navigational Shortcuts, in West Central Florida Region

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon continues delivering the ultimate home-entertainment experience with the introduction of even more innovative interactive features for FiOS TV subscribers in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties.  

New updates to FiOS TV's Interactive Media Guide (IMG) include increased video-on-demand (VOD) personalization, purchasing power via remote control for Showtime and ESPN programming, gaming widgets, and new navigational shortcuts that make exploring the expansive world of FiOS TV faster and easier than ever before.

The new features have been available in Texas, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York and will be expanded to all other FiOS TV markets over the next few months.  

"Because FiOS TV is such a content-rich service, we're always finding new and better ways of making it quick and easy to find the entertainment you're looking for and to discover new shows and features through our IMG," said Michelle Robinson, Verizon's Southeast region president.  

"Our latest enhancements put new tools in customers' hands to help them better search and enjoy our 18,000 monthly-title VOD service, evaluate and purchase premium channels, and more quickly access useful features like parental controls and in-depth show descriptions.  FiOS TV subscribers know that we'll keep taking their home entertainment where cable can't go," Robinson said.

Among the new FiOS TV IMG features are:

• Recommendations For You:  Subscribers can sign up to see personalized VOD recommendations that are based on movies they have viewed and ordered in the past from the FiOS TV VOD library.

• More Like This:  Subscribers can click on a "More Like This" button when previewing a VOD title and see additional, similar titles based on actors and genres.  

• On-Screen Premium Programming Purchasing:
  • ESPN:  Using the FiOS TV remote, subscribers can quickly and easily purchase a weekly pass or full subscription to ESPN pay-per-view events, including ESPN College GameDay and NBA Full Court Pass.

• Quick Guide TV Options:  A shortcut that makes it fast and easy to do the following:
  • Set global parental controls or block specific channels.
  • See a list of future times that a program will be shown again.
  • Record a show.
  • See recommendations for shows similar to the one that has been selected.
  • Jump from a menu to live TV.

• Quick Guide DVR Options:  DVR shortcut providing subscribers with the following options: "play program from the beginning," "select delete," "save until I delete," "initiate parental controls," "select closed captions" and "help."  

• Full Screen Program Information:  Provides customers a full-screen view of in- depth program descriptions, including cast, crew and plot synopses

• Reversi Widget: One- or two-player game displayed on the TV.  Using the arrow keys on the FiOS TV remote control, players move around the board to select an empty space to complete the move.  The player who fills the Reversi board with the most pieces wins.

• Chinese Checkers Widget:  Variation of traditional Chinese checkers, with the goal of having one marble left on the board.  The player selects a marble using the arrow keys on the remote control and then jumps over another marble to an empty space, removing the jumped marble.  A player's score is calculated by the number of marbles left and total time spent playing the game.

FiOS TV offers a broad collection of programming, with more than 500 all-digital channels, more than 138 HD channels and more than 18,000 monthly VOD titles.  FiOS provides next-generation interactive services including an advanced interactive media guide; social-networking, news and entertainment widgets; remote DVR management via broadband or cell phone; multi-room DVR, Internet videos on TV; streaming of personal videos, photos and music from home computers to the TV; and many others.  The service now also offers a new Widget Bazaar applications marketplace that includes a selection of free interactive services, including widgets that let subscribers interact with Facebook and Twitter on their TVs.  

FiOS TV is currently available to more than 10.3 million homes in 14 states.  For more information on FiOS TV, consumers can visit www.verizon.com/fiostv or call their local Verizon sales office or 888-438-3467.  For the latest news, updates and information about FiOS TV, visit www.verizon.com/newscenter and http://www.verizon.com/athomeblog.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.  Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving more than 89 million customers nationwide.  Verizon also provides converged communications, information and entertainment services over America's most advanced fiber-optic network, and delivers innovative, seamless business solutions to customers around the world.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of more than 230,000 and last year generated consolidated revenues of more than $97 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at www.verizon.com/news.  To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

SOURCE Verizon

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