Verizon's New Interactive Media Guide Makes It Easy to Search and Manage
Multimedia Content Throughout the Home
NEW YORK, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing to transform home
entertainment, Verizon is introducing Verizon FiOS TV's interactive media
guide that helps customers quickly and easily find and enjoy content from
TV listings, video-on-demand catalogs and digital video recorders as well
as personal music and photos from the home network. Future versions of the
guide will add Internet radio, videos, podcasts and games to the FiOS TV
multimedia platform.
FiOS TV's interactive media guide is currently deployed to customers in
Indiana, Rhode Island and parts of New Jersey, and Verizon now is rolling
out the new guide to other markets.
"Our new interactive media guide is the latest exciting development
from FiOS TV," said Shawn Strickland, Verizon vice president of video
solutions. "We've capitalized on our investment in an ultra-fast, highly
responsive fiber-optic network to deliver a customer experience that
marries the best interactivity of the Web with the highest-quality
programming experience in the marketplace. The interactive media guide
erases the lines between TV, Internet and personal media and makes it easy
for customers to personalize and enjoy media throughout their homes."
Through a network download, FiOS TV customers will be upgraded to the
new guide automatically at no additional cost, and they will continue to
use their existing set-top boxes and universal remote controls. In the days
leading up to the launch in each market, customers will receive a "driver's
manual" and other communications about the guide's cool new features.
"When customers turn on the TV after the overnight upgrade, it will be
a brand-new day in home entertainment," Strickland said.
Guide Capitalizes on the Power of the Network
The first release of Verizon's new interactive media guide pulls
together content from a variety of sources -- broadcast TV, Verizon's more
than 8,600 -- title video-on-demand library and the subscriber's own DVR
recordings -- into one media management system. Customers who have FiOS
TV's Media Manager, part of its innovative Home Media DVR service, can also
search, organize and enjoy their digital photos and music with a few clicks
of the remote control. Over the next year, subscribers will be able to
manage additional content like games, podcasts and Internet video through
the same guide, from the comfort of their own living rooms.
Verizon provides FiOS services over the nation's most advanced,
all-digital fiber-optic network that reaches all the way to customers'
homes, and the interactive media guide is one example of how Verizon is
making life better on the FiOS network.
When customers use the interactive media guide to search for content,
such as video-on-demand titles or broadcast schedules, they instantly get
relevant results, thanks to the network's high bandwidth and fast response
times. And, because Verizon combines powerful search servers in the network
with innovative search routines, the search results will even reflect
current news topics. For example, if two actors have the same initials, but
one of them has recently been in the news, the results of a search on those
initials will treat the "newsworthy" actor as more relevant to the search
than results describing the other actor.
Verizon is extending the network-based capabilities when customers are
not at home. Within the next year, FiOS customers will be able to use cell
phones and the Internet to manage their home entertainment -- including
scheduling recordings on their Home Media DVR.
Verizon's world-class software-development team built the new guide
software, working round-the-clock and around the world and using technology
licensed by a variety of cutting-edge providers. Before rolling out the
interactive media guide to customers in Indiana and Rhode Island, Verizon
refined and tested the application's design and usability over 18 months
with more than 2,000 consumers in Boston and Dallas and performed field
trials with customers in New Jersey this spring.
Transforming the User Experience
"We listened to our customers and created a next-generation guide that
is attractive, amazingly responsive and easy to use," Strickland said. "No
other experience on the market can match the innovation we're delivering to
customers with the interactive media guide."
Verizon designed the on-screen guide with the vibrant colors, graphics
and easy-to-use interfaces that customers have come to expect from the best
in consumer electronics. Strickland said a key design principle was to help
customers reach content with the fewest clicks of the remote control,
including video-on-demand and DVR programs. Navigation is intuitive and can
be done with the remote control's arrows and "OK" button or by using the
remote's shortcut keys.
Another key design principle was to give customers choice in how they
interact with FiOS TV. Customers can search for content using cell phone-
style text entry, a virtual keyboard or a simple scroll wheel, all
onscreen. As the customer enters each text character in the search, the
guide responds with corresponding actor names, TV shows, on-demand titles
and more. Adding characters refines the search rapidly.
Subscribers can customize their search by choosing to see all channels,
HDTV channels only or a list of their favorite channels. They also can
select the size of the guide's screen with a choice of full-screen view,
half-screen view or mini-screen.
The search for on-demand content comes to life with a colorful
on-screen movie posters for featured titles, another innovative experience
powered by the FiOS network. Even with the more than 8,600 on-demand
programs available today on FiOS TV, finding movies and shows is fast and
simple, with current titles included in all keyword searches. Users can
also browse by newest release, stars and special interests such as
children's comedies.
Verizon began offering FiOS TV service in September 2005, and quickly
established a reputation for the highest-quality entertainment experience
in the market. The service is now available to more than 3.1 million
households in parts of 12 states: California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana,
Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
Texas and Virginia. The company expects 15 million households to be
video-ready by 2010.
More information about FiOS TV, fiber optics and other broadband
services and applications is available at http://www.verizonfios.com.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), headquartered in New York, is a
leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless
communication innovations to mass market, business, government and
wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable
wireless network, serving 60.7 million customers nationwide. Verizon's
Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and
seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon
Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications,
information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced
fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of
more than 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues
of more than $88 billion. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com.
VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches
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