Here are my questions I sent to them (some questions were compiled by the staff or the other two threads in this forum). They did not answer a lot of them (or any) but gave me a statement at the bottom that was promising. 
Yes, that will be cool to provide answers to questions. It was posted
yesterday in this publication:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servle...780695437&path=!news!politics&s=1045855935264
TimeDispatch.com
"Verizon fails to gain entry to cable business. Senate panel tables
legislation to study the bill's implications"
1 - Is this true?
2 - Assuming that you are able to get a cable business license,
(a) Which Markets are you planning to roll out first?
(b) From the Press Release it is not clear which HD or SD channels will be
part of the service. Can you elaborate on this? Will you provide East and
West channels? How about local channels in HD?
(c) Will there be a tier'd programming?
(d) What is the estimated subscription cost per month?
(e) Will there be bundle packages with DSL?
(f) Will there be a lease program, where one can lease the box from the
start?
4 - From the Press Release with Microsoft it is apparent that you will be
using WM9/MPEG-4 with a Motorola Box. Are you going to use WM9/MPEG-4
from the beginning of the service or are you going to start with MPEG-2 and
then upgrade?
5 - Getting into a Tv Market dominated by DBS and Cable is not easy. We
have sampled our members and find that they much rather have quality in the
signal delivered than quantity of Channels. However, current DBS business
and Cable business model is to give the public more channels while
sacrificing the quality of the signal. Which approach are you going to
take? Most of us who have been getting HDTV for over three years know that
most DBS and Cable companies are providing between 10mbps -12mbps for their
HD channels. While Over The Air local channels provide 19mbps when not
simulcasting. Can you give us an estimate on the bitrates of HD channels
and SD channels?
6 - Current HDTV consumers believe that HDTV should be deliver at 1280x720p
or 1920x1080i (depending how the original channel delivers its signal).
There are plenty of documentation on the net that shows that some DBS
providers have downgraded their resolution of 1080i channels to 1280x1080i.
This, in fact, has been categorized as HD Lite. A term that means less
than full resolution HD. Will Verizon deliver the true HD signal. How can
customers be sure of this?
7- In this day in age, a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is essential and a lot
of the current TV business have one. Is this something that is expected to
have by Verizon or is there a plan to have it and by when (estimate)?
8 - How about installation? Will there be a fee or will it be free of
charge?
9 - Will there be commitments attach to the service? Like six months or a
year?
10 - Is all this connection suppose to be on current telephone cable or will
Verizon need to replace our current landline?
11 - Will the installation need to be done by Verizon or will customer be
able to do self-installation?
12 - Are there any promotional flyers or information that can be provided
about the service?
There are more questions and I do not know how much of the above can be
answered but those are some of the concerns and initial questions. In my
opinion, there are people that are willing to pay for HDTV as long as the
customers know that the HD signal is a true HD signal. Customers have been
burned to many times by Cable and DBS. We really hope Verizon can give us
an alternative.
Here is the answer I received:
Sean,
We appreciate your interest in Verizon's TV service, but it's premature to
answer most of your questions. We're rolling out our TV service, which
we're calling FiOS TV, in the second half of this year. We'll deliver
FiOS TV over our fiber to the premises network (FTTP), which we're building
in parts of 12 states. The company will seek a franchise agreement from
the local authority before offering cable service in a selected community.
The Times Dispatch story referred to legislation that would have revised
Virginia law to hasten cable competition. Although it was tabled, we can
still negotiate cable franchises with local authorities in Virginia.
FiOS TV will offer a superior alternative to cable and satellite at a great
price. It will have hundreds of digital channels, including HD channels,
video on demand, an interactive programming guide, and a DVR.
All I can say is: Stay Tuned. We'll have more information as we get closer
to launch.
Yes, that will be cool to provide answers to questions. It was posted
yesterday in this publication:
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servle...780695437&path=!news!politics&s=1045855935264
TimeDispatch.com
"Verizon fails to gain entry to cable business. Senate panel tables
legislation to study the bill's implications"
1 - Is this true?
2 - Assuming that you are able to get a cable business license,
(a) Which Markets are you planning to roll out first?
(b) From the Press Release it is not clear which HD or SD channels will be
part of the service. Can you elaborate on this? Will you provide East and
West channels? How about local channels in HD?
(c) Will there be a tier'd programming?
(d) What is the estimated subscription cost per month?
(e) Will there be bundle packages with DSL?
(f) Will there be a lease program, where one can lease the box from the
start?
4 - From the Press Release with Microsoft it is apparent that you will be
using WM9/MPEG-4 with a Motorola Box. Are you going to use WM9/MPEG-4
from the beginning of the service or are you going to start with MPEG-2 and
then upgrade?
5 - Getting into a Tv Market dominated by DBS and Cable is not easy. We
have sampled our members and find that they much rather have quality in the
signal delivered than quantity of Channels. However, current DBS business
and Cable business model is to give the public more channels while
sacrificing the quality of the signal. Which approach are you going to
take? Most of us who have been getting HDTV for over three years know that
most DBS and Cable companies are providing between 10mbps -12mbps for their
HD channels. While Over The Air local channels provide 19mbps when not
simulcasting. Can you give us an estimate on the bitrates of HD channels
and SD channels?
6 - Current HDTV consumers believe that HDTV should be deliver at 1280x720p
or 1920x1080i (depending how the original channel delivers its signal).
There are plenty of documentation on the net that shows that some DBS
providers have downgraded their resolution of 1080i channels to 1280x1080i.
This, in fact, has been categorized as HD Lite. A term that means less
than full resolution HD. Will Verizon deliver the true HD signal. How can
customers be sure of this?
7- In this day in age, a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) is essential and a lot
of the current TV business have one. Is this something that is expected to
have by Verizon or is there a plan to have it and by when (estimate)?
8 - How about installation? Will there be a fee or will it be free of
charge?
9 - Will there be commitments attach to the service? Like six months or a
year?
10 - Is all this connection suppose to be on current telephone cable or will
Verizon need to replace our current landline?
11 - Will the installation need to be done by Verizon or will customer be
able to do self-installation?
12 - Are there any promotional flyers or information that can be provided
about the service?
There are more questions and I do not know how much of the above can be
answered but those are some of the concerns and initial questions. In my
opinion, there are people that are willing to pay for HDTV as long as the
customers know that the HD signal is a true HD signal. Customers have been
burned to many times by Cable and DBS. We really hope Verizon can give us
an alternative.
Here is the answer I received:
Sean,
We appreciate your interest in Verizon's TV service, but it's premature to
answer most of your questions. We're rolling out our TV service, which
we're calling FiOS TV, in the second half of this year. We'll deliver
FiOS TV over our fiber to the premises network (FTTP), which we're building
in parts of 12 states. The company will seek a franchise agreement from
the local authority before offering cable service in a selected community.
The Times Dispatch story referred to legislation that would have revised
Virginia law to hasten cable competition. Although it was tabled, we can
still negotiate cable franchises with local authorities in Virginia.
FiOS TV will offer a superior alternative to cable and satellite at a great
price. It will have hundreds of digital channels, including HD channels,
video on demand, an interactive programming guide, and a DVR.
All I can say is: Stay Tuned. We'll have more information as we get closer
to launch.
