Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) today introduced new interactive features and functionality for its FiOS TV service customers in Maryland and Virginia, including the ability to upgrade to premium content channels and an enhanced DVR via remote control and on-demand access to information and entertainment.
Verizon’s Instant Upgrades lets FiOS customers watch VOD offerings from HBO, Cinemax and more by subscribing to these premium channel packages straight from the VOD menu, using their remote control.
Customers who subscribe to a DVR instantly can upgrade to Verizon's Home Media DVR, bundled with the free Media Manager service, without calling Verizon to sign up, according to the company.
The new features, accessed through FiOS TV’s Interactive Media Guide, include the ability to stream recorded high-definition (HD) programs to six other TV sets throughout the home using the telco’s Home Media DVR.
This feature, previously only available with standard definition (SD) content, enables customers to watch three separately recorded shows on three sets at the same time, plus pause recorded programming in one room and continue watching in another.
Other new FiOS features include new channel sorting options, enabling users ─ Verizon FiOS TV customers ─ to create two separate lists of favorite channels for family members. Customers, Verizon says, also now can filter channels in the guide by genre for instances when a customer may only want to see HD content, international channels or kids programming, among others.
A new "Wait for Me" feature lets customers pause live programming, change channels, and then return to the paused program and pick up where they left off. No part of a program will be missed with this new feature.
Verizon also has added new, free widgets that offer customers one-touch, on-demand access to info on TV screens. Additions include daily national news and sports headlines, and community news, based on the customer's zip code and daily horoscopes.
A new widget, Fantasy Football, lets FiOS TV customers who are registered users of ESPN Fantasy Football, have instant on-screen access to personalized NFL statistics, including rosters, box scores, scoring leaders and player information.
