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Verizon Says Its TV Business Is on Road to Meeting Goal

May 2, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Verizon Communications reported Tuesday that as of the first quarter, its new television product is capturing between 9 percent and 12 percent of the homes where the product is available.

It was the first time that the New York-based telecommunications giant provided any details about its television product, which was launched in September in Keller, Texas. The product has since expanded to a number of communities in six other states, including Florida, New York, Virginia and Massachusetts.

Verizon is spending billions to roll out FiOS, a fiber-optic-based network that will enable the company to compete with cable companies with a similar three-product offering of television, high-speed Internet and telephone services. The company sees FiOS as an important key to its survival as its traditional copper-wire-based telephone service continues to lose customers to cable, wireless providers and Internet phone companies.

While Verizon wouldn’t say how many customers subscribe to the company’s FiOS TV video product, it said that in Keller the number of eligible homes receiving the FiOS TV product rose to 24 percent in the first quarter, up from 21 percent at the end of 2005.

The company revealed FiOS TV’s progress as part of its quarterly earnings release, in which its first-quarter profit fell to $1.63 billion from $1.76 billion a year ago. Revenue surged 25 percent to $22.7 billion.

Also, Verizon described the penetration rate of 9 percent to 12 percent as being halfway toward the company’s goal of snagging 20 percent to 25 percent of eligible homes within five years.

Verizon said the overall FiOS product, which in addition to a video product includes a fiber-optic-based high-speed Internet service, is now available in 3.6 million homes in communities in 15 states, up from 3 million homes at the end of last year.