• TV Week, Wednesday, May 3, 2006 11 AM

Verizon Communications, soon to engage in a major battle with rival AT&T over the telecoms' entry into the TV space, says its product, called FiOS, is capturing between 9 and 12 percent of the homes where it is available.  Right now, FiOS, launched last September, is an option to consumers in parts of just six states.  Among them: New York, Massachusetts, and Florida.  Verizon is spending "billions" on the rollout of FiOS, reports TV Week.  The objective is to give Verizon customers the triple-play bundle--phone, Internet, TV--so many Americans seem to find appealing.  The recently reconstituted AT&T (formerly SBS Communications) has indicated it too plans to enter the market with a direct-to-home TV product.  While some observers have said the cost of a national TV-option build-out will be too great for these public companies to undertake, the game is in the early stages and it's way too soon to tell if consumers in large numbers will switch to the telecoms from their now-familiar cable-TV providers.  In any event, Verizon claims it's off to an encouraging start toward its goal, which is to capture 20-25 percent of eligible homes within five years.

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