Verizon at Home

[#1]

How about seeing every crucial play from around the National Football League on a Sunday afternoon in real time?  That’s the idea behind the new NFL RedZone.  And when it launches on Sept. 13, you’ll see it on Verizon FiOS TV.

For the football fan, this is huge and we’re excited to be among the first TV providers to carry the NFL RedZone.  Fans get touchdowns and other important plays from the games taking place on Sunday afternoons.  When a team goes inside its opponent’s 20-yard line, fans will see the plays as they happen.  The channel will switch from game to game with live look-ins and highlights.

NFL RedZone is a subscription channel that costs $49.99 for the season.  It will be available on FiOS TV in both HD (channel 835) and SD (channel 335).

Now, I’ll be watching the Eagles every Sunday, but NFL RedZone will be a great way to see what the other teams are doing.  Not that I’d be interested in the Patriots or the Giants, of course.  But a lot of fans may just end up tuning into the NFL RedZone especially if they are tracking their fantasy football team or want to keep track of teams in other markets.  We’re excited that the NFL RedZone will be part of the offer from FiOS TV this fall.

[#2]

Eric:

While it's great that FiOS TV is carrying the NFL Red Zone channel, $50/season is pretty steep considering that Comcast and Dish Network are not charging their subscribers anything extra for the channel.

-Tim

[#3]

I'm with Tim - while i'm aware of the 25 cent / customer price tag for the channel - charging $50 is a bad PR move.

[#4]

Disappointing.  Any way to give a - (minus) Kudo?

[#5]

The NFL (with Verizon's assistance) has created still another cash cow for a league devoted to money.  Anyone notice that the EXISTING NFL Network channel shows nothing but stats and an audio feed on gameday Sundays?  If they wanted to provide this service to fans, they could easily use their existing channel,which is where this belongs.      I prefer to watch one game at a time, and I haven't noticed any lack of updates on the CBS or Fox coverages on Sunday afternoons.   I wish Verizon success but I will keep my $50 this time around.

[#6]

Great!  Now if only you could get NBA TV up and running.  1 month before preseason NBA starts, it should be on already.

[#7]

Comcast will be charging for the RedZone Channel.  You have to subscribe to their Sports Package which is around $6-$7/month depending on where you live.  Plus they have not publicy stated that they will carry the HD version.

http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=916

FIOS does not charge extra for the sports channels that Comcast charges extra for.

[#8]

BOTHELLFIOSGUY,

V* does charge extra for the sports package in NNJ/NY market.  because of that we pay less a month for equipement

[#9]

BOTHELLFIOSGUY:

$7 for a package subscription is a lot less than $50 for a channel subscription.

[#10]

Eric:

You should definitely offer a free preview weekend to let folks know what the channel is like.

[#11]

yawn...still no BBC HD.  The few friends I have that would be interested quickly lost interest when the price was announced.

[#12]

$50 for the entire season amounts to just under $3 per Sunday. If it's worth it to you, fine. If it's too expensive, then don't order it.

[#13]

Thanks to all for the great comments to this post. It’s pretty clear the RedZone is red hot. Let me respond to the comments here.

Our entire customer base, regardless of level of service, can order NFL RedZone. Cable companies generally compel a customer to subscribe to a sports package that they may or may not want for the sole purpose of receiving this one service. For example, a Comcast customer would have to subscribe to the Sports Entertainment Package ($5 per month/$60 per year, and more in some markets), and Dish ($5.99 per month/$71.88 a year) just to receive the RedZone. In addition, a Comcast customer must have at least the Digital Starter package, which retails for $62 in certain Comcast markets, while Dish requires a subscription to "qualifying programming." On the other hand, a FiOS customer with Essentials ($47.99) could add the service ala carte for $50. Comparison: Verizon, $52.16 v. Comcast, $67 and Dish, $? So, we’d agree our pricing is different from the competition, but we think it is a very good deal.

--Eric

[#14]

My angst is with the NFL.  Mighty greedy of them but if they can get it so be it.  Plenty of money (not from me) and use of bandwidth for a measly 17 weeks of the year.  The NFL Network is useless except for the handful of games they broadcast live.

Personally I want to see the NFL open up Sunday Ticket to all outlets and not just one satellite provider.

Just my opinion and of course many of yours will be different.

[#15]

Eric,

Thank you for your repsonse. I agree that the availabliity to ALL of the FiOS customer is a plus for how you have it set up. However, Verizon is the only carrier (so far) to charge its customers for the Red Zone package or so the competetion will spew. Just get ready for some sort of PR campaign against how you have the package set up.It is easy for Comcast and Dish to say that they are not charging thier customers for the Red Zone channel, while Verizon is.

I also agree with Nascar. My angst is with the NFL for opening up a new channel for Red Zone when it could have easily been placed on the NFL Network (unless this is not possible with the new DirecTV Sunday Ticket Agreement).

Carl

[#16]

I just tried to add this channel to my service over the phone. Of course the Verizon CSR had no clue what I was talking about. I waited on hold for 18 minutes while she tried to find someone to help, and then I hung up. It is so typical of Verizon to announce something like this and then be unprepared to respond to requests.

[#17]

@ Reaper -- it doesn't launch until Sept. 13, per the date in the original blog post.  

[#18]

The 13th is the first day the channel will be carrying content. Surely we can order it before then?

[#19]

Reaper,

A big oops on our part.  Our communications should have mentioned that we'll begin taking orders for NFL RedZone on Sept. 10.  We have just completed the agreement for the channel, so it takes us a few days to get everything set up.  Please call us back on the 10th.

Eric

[#20]

Okay Eric, thanks for the clarification.

[#21]

Eric,

I should mention that you're finally enabling me to cut the chord completely from DirecTV. To this point I've used FiOS as my primary TV provider (because quality and quantity of HD programming are equally important to me) but have kept DirecTV for NFL Sunday Ticket (I'm an out of market Steelers fan). It would have cost me about $475 for NFL ST this year so thank you for providing an economic alternative on FiOS.

-Tim

[#22]

Eric,

I am a little confused. You mention (as an example) that Comcast customers have to subscribe to a sports package to receive the Red Zone and if they already subscribe to it there would not be an additonal charge. I live in New York City and am already charged an additional $7.99/month for a Sports tier with my FIOS service. Will I have to pay an additonal $49.99 for this channel as well?

Thanks.

[#23]

Tideman,

We're offering NFL RedZone ala carte, which means customers aren't required to subscribe to certain packages or tiers of service to get it.  Conversely, if you already subscribe to the Sports Package, it doesn't affect the price of NFL RedZone, which is $49.99 for the season.  However, as a New York area FiOS customer, you are paying a lower rate for your overall FiOS TV service than customers elsewhere.

Eric

[#24]

OK Eric that clears it up, thanks for the response.

[#25]

50 bucks a month is WAY to high for this. When I was with Comcast I would "buy" the sports pack from Sept. to Dec. Back when I was with Comcast it was 30 bucks for the sports pack for the football season. If this pack was 29.99 I would be in and so would alot of other people! In this economy people arent going to pay 50.00 for something that is new and unproven. We all saw how bad the NFL Network was when it first came out...

Does Verizon spilt the charge up over the course of the season or is it a one time charge? Dividing it up into 4 or 5 monthly chrages of about 10.00 a month would make it easier to swallow if they stick with the 50.00 charge...

[#26]

Eric -

Your comparison to your competitors pricing is flawed in regards to a viewer wanting just the NFL Red Zone channel. I can give you a compelling reason why Verizon is charging about $25 too much for this channel. If I was on Comcast, I would just need to subscribe to the Sports Entertainment Package at $5/mo for September through December. That is $20 for the channel. If I was on Dish it would cost us $23.96 using $5.99/mo for September through December. The customers do not need to subscribe to the package for an entire year.

I think most of your customers will agree that your deal isn’t a very good one. But I am sure you will get some people to order it as it. But you really should re-think your pricing.

[#27]

DWilliamson5002,

We agree -- $50 a month is WAY too high, and indeed it's not what we charge.  It's $50 for the season, which is a one-time charge.  I appreciate the feedback about monthly payments, however, and I've sent it to our business team.

Eric

[#28]

I meant 50 bucks a Season is too high. Me and Eric agree that Verizon is charging double over the other two providers.

[#29]

DWilliamson5002,

I sent your suggestion about having installment payments vs. a one-time payment (which is what I was referencing in my last comment to you) to our business team and here's their feedback:  Unfortunately, we can't do installment payments without delaying the service.  If we make that change now, we would not be able to take orders for the RedZone until well after Sept. 10 when we will begin processing orders in our call centers.

Eric

[#30]

when are you going to be able to order the channel?

[#31]

I agree that installments would definatly go over easier but I don't think $50 is that crazy.  Should probably be cheaper but the only way I get to watch the games is going to a bar that has the package which costs money every week.  For $50 I can have people over and get to watch local games and red zone action depending on how it is.  If it were the channel where the user can choose which red zone that'd be cool but i'm curious to see how its handled when more than one team are in the red zone.  I just switched yesterday from cablevision so I didn't have any access to NFL not even the NFL network!!

Cali

[#32]

I ordered NFL Red Zone and gladly paid the $49.99.  The service went live two weeks ago with the first NFL game and I was greatly disappointed.  I called today and cancelled my subscription after only 11 days of use and was told that there is NO prorated refund.  This is a scam!  I continued with my cancellation just so that both Verizon and the NFL would hear from me that their product is not worth the price and I would rather not risk the chance of the automatic renewal next season than get my prorated fee returned.  This is not the way you treat a valued customer and will influence ever ordering another Verizon subscription service and my desire to remain a loyal Verizon customer.

[#33]

Im excited!....tired of watching the Jets nad Giants every weekend; looking forward to seeing whats going on around the league in live broadcast. This makes footall more interesting during the regular season and your getting more football coverage in general period. Red Zone....here i come! lol

[#34]

Red Zone on FIOS has been an EPIC FAILURE through week 2. Two weeks in a row I've spent over an hour and a half on hold while staring at a Red Zone Screen Saver on CH835. Think they resolved the problem around 4PM EST week 1. So far we're  just under 3 hours into week 2 and still no Red Zone! Customer support has been a joke. On line support has been unavailable due to volume.  Wonder if the fact that they laid off 1700 workers last year has anything to do with that. The CEO made makes over $23 Mil though. Nice to see Mr McAdam's still getting paid. They've got a nerve changing anything for this service.