Verizon at Home

[#1]

A lot of you have asked us about FiOS TV’s plans for 3D.  And today we have some great news.  This Thursday, March 3, FiOS TV will air the first ever Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in 3D.  The 3D telecast will air live on VERSUS at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

The highly anticipated card is headlined by a welterweight clash between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann, from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.  The telecast will feature play-by-play from veteran Todd Harris, along with UFC featherweight star Kenny Florian. 

As with all FiOS TV 3D broadcasts, all you need is a 3D television set, 3D glasses and a high-definition set-top box.  FiOS TV customers will find the live 3D broadcast on channel 1002.  The UFC event also will be available on FiOS TV in high definition on Channel 590 and in standard definition on Channel 90.

As FiOS TV customers know, Verizon has been focusing our 3D efforts on live sporting events like this as well as Video on Demand.  Last summer we carried the Yankees-Mariners game in 3D, and we broadcast the first 3D NFL football game on television last fall.  We also offered a 3D college football game from VERSUS, and we expect to add ESPN 3D by the third quarter of this year.  Keep a look out for other sporting events in 3D throughout the year.

Meanwhile, fans of 3D movie action will find a growing list of 3D movies on demand.  Back in November, we told you here about eight 3D movies we were offering on demand, including “Chicken Little,” “Bolt” and “Meet the Robinsons.”  Today you’ll find even more 3D movies like “The Last Airbender,” “Despicable Me,” “Shrek Forever After” and “Saw: The Final Chapter.”  All of our 3D movies can be found in the HD 3D folder on the VOD menu. 

In addition, we’ve partnered with HBO to make some of their blockbuster films available in 3D.  Since January, HBO has been making 3D films available to our FiOS TV customers who subscribe to the premium channel.  Check out movies like “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” “Clash of the Titans” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.”  You’ll find them all in the HBO folder on the FiOS TV VOD menu.

And we have more to come.  March will bring “Yogi Bear 3D” and we expect another one of our premium partners to introduce a new 3D offering very soon.  More to come on that.

Make sure to check out this Thursday’s UFC event and take advantage of all the 3D programming available.  Check back here for what comes up next.

[#2]

I'm sorry... All I heard was "we expect to add ESPN 3D by the third quarter of this year"... Really? Because you're doing live events? You know who is doing live events constantly including the NBA playoffs? ESPN3D... You signed your deals with ESPN3D and 3Dnet in early October, flip the switch on or I'm seriously considering ponying up for the rip off receiver and going to DirecTV. You're supposed to be the service for early adopters, but for some reason you're last in line and getting a reputation for handling 3DTV poorly. I know it seems like there isn't a big market share of 3Dtv owners and only 3% of north americans plan on getting one in 2011... that's 1.5 Million people. And the TVs are not cheap, so when we get one and are not able to watch anything but movies (which we've been able to watch for years in the theaters) it **bleep** us off.

[#3]

jakez,

Thank you for giving us your thoughts about 3D.  If you haven't already, you can join the conversation and give us your suggestions about 3D and other subjects at the Verizon Idea Exchange.

http://forums.verizon.com/t5/Share-Your-Ideas-with-Verizon/3D-channels/idi-p/236579

Heather

[#4]

holy cow this sucks

[#5]

I have been waiting forever for 3d content and the first telecast in months and I missed it. You really need better promotion of this. I check the internet for 3d verizon news once or twice a week ( used to be daily ) and have even called requesting information to no avail. Now I see this posting which was posted 2 days before the broadcast. I know you won't have channels for months but special broadcasts like this should get a little more marketing.

[#6]

I did notice those post came soon before. And you tweeted out the channel on the same day. Is this just because they decide last second, or haven't decided the channel yet? Also, do you guys get alot of comments about people at costumer service not even knowing that fios has 3D content? I feel like I've had to educate alot of them... just seems odd

[#7]

mbcomb and jakez,

Thank you for your comments about our latest 3D telecast on FiOS TV.  In addition to our post here at the Verizon at Home blog, we also posted some information about the UFC telecast on our Facebook page

(www.facebook.com/verizonfios) and Tweeted about it.  But you're right that we didn't have a lot of advance time to tell you about this UFC event, and some people may not have known it was available.

If you missed it, you can still catch a replay by going to the FiOS TV Menu and selecting the Video on Demand Folder.  Then select Browse All > High Definition > HD3D and look for UFC 3D.

We often blog about special programming and new content here at the Verizon at Home blog.  So you can always check back here for news about 3D and other new FiOS TV content. 

Heather