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Verizon Challenges DirecTV with FiOS HDTV Expansion

6:15 am on November 6, 2007 | Category: Telecom Services, Television

Verizon Communications is challenging satellite television giant, DirecTV, in the HDTV market by promising more than 150 high-definition channels by the end of 2008.

Verizon will begin by doubling its current HD offering, which already reaches 717,000 of its FiOS TV customers, to more than 60 channels by next spring, then rapidly expanding to 150 channels by the end of the year. The telecom giant also hopes to offer a library of over 1,000 high-definition Video On Demand titles within the same time period.

“It makes sense given Verizon’s network,” commented Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett, citing the company’s rapidly expanding fiber-to-the-home broadband and television network. “One of their obvious sources of competitive advantage is raw bandwidth.”

Verizon’s promised HDTV expansion is a direct challenge to satellite rival, DirecTV, which plans to offer 100 HD channels by the end of this year, and 150 by the end of next.

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