Verizon FiOS Expands VOD Offerings

The high-definition video-on-demand (VOD) market continues to heat up, with Verizon’s FiOS expanding their offerings today. The Telco player’s expensive expansion into the pay television market has been a success so far, as they now claim over 1 million FiOS subscribers.

Today’s announcement will entice those in Verizon’s footprint who currently subscribe to other pay television operators, as the catalog of video-on-demand titles continues to increase. The company has already doubled the size of its video-on-demand library according to Shawn Strickland, Verizon’s vice president of video solutions:

“With 10,000 titles each month, our overall video-on-demand library is the industry’s largest, and we plan to offer more than 1,000 high-definition video on demand titles this year.”

Verizon initially rolled out HD VOD in Virginia, Indiana, Florida and Western Pennsylvania in December 2007. Today’s expansion includes the states California, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Eastern Pennsylvania and Texas. Delivered via Verizon’s new fiber optic network, the VOD offerings present strong competition to cable television. The final two states will be New York and Oregon, promised “in the coming weeks.”

Verizon has beefed up its video-on-demand HD content with new content from Ovation TV, Discovery Channel, HDNet, and CBS. According to Verizon, 70% of VOD offerings are free to subscribers. The other 30% are available for customers subscribing to Premium on Demand, movie channels such as HBO, Showtime, and Starz.

Overall Verizon’s offerings will certainly force the competition to stand up and take note. Cable TV operators Comcast and Time Warner have been leading the VOD battle. Satellite TV providers DIRECTV and DISH Network have been struggling to formulate workable on-demand services.