As you dive into the Memorial Day weekend on Friday, May 24, Verizon FiOS TV customers can get ready for a true TV watching marathon, with more than 1,700 free movies and over 50 full seasons of TV series from a variety of networks, including NBC, Chicago Fire, Smash, The Voice, Grim, BBC America, HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, DIY, HBO^® and more.

As part of the On Demand Marathon, you’ll have the chance to catch up on the latest movies and TV series with just a click of the blue On Demand button in the middle of your remote control.

When the Memorial Day weekend arrives, head over to the FiOS TV Video on Demand menu and select the “Free Marathon” folder. (It’s not there yet.)  There, you’ll find a full list of all of the available TV shows and movies you can watch during the marathon.

Here’s a look at a selection of other programs airing during the coming week.

Friday:

Nikita – 8 pm on CW

Merlin – 10 pm on Syfy

Maron – 10 pm on IFC

Saturday:

Cops – 8 pm on FOX (season 25 finale)

Smash – 8 pm on NBC

Saturday Night Live – 11:30 pm on NBC (Zach Galifianakis hosts)

We have a few season finales and even a few premieres to look forward to this week. For all the Broadway fans, the Tony nominations will be announced Tuesday morning. And for the sports fans, the NBA playoffs are airing nearly every night. Now here’s a look at a selection of other programs airing during the coming week.

Friday:

Happy Endings – 8 pm on ABC (2 back-to-back episodes)

Nikita – 8 pm on CW

Live From Lincoln Center – 9 pm on PBS (Carousel with the New York Philharmonic)

Saturday:

Sprint Cup in Richmond – 7 pm on FOX

Mayweather – 8 pm on CBS (Floyd Mayweather Jr. profile)

A Sister’s Revenge – 8 pm on Lifetime

Spoiled Rotten Pets – 9 pm on Nat Geo Wild

I recently joined some of my Verizon colleagues at the inaugural Multiethnic TV Awards in New York City. This event was a special one for Verizon, as our very own Michelle Webb was selected as one of 10 honorees for her work with multicultural programming.

Verizon has always made it a priority to grow our international content offering. In the last year, we’ve made great strides, launching more than a dozen new Spanish language channels, including the recent addition of beIN SPORT HD and beIN SPORT en Espanol to the FiOS TV lineup.

Between the NFL Draft and the NBA playoffs, sports fans have plenty to watch this week. If you’re like me, you’ll be tuning in to reality favorites like the final reunion episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta! Here’s a look at those shows and a selection of other programs airing during the coming week.

Friday:

Amar’e Stoudemire: In the Moment – 8 pm on EPIX

Shark Tank – 9 pm on ABC

Saturday:

NBA Playoffs – 3 pm on ABC (NY Knicks vs. Boston, followed by Brooklyn vs. Chicago at 8 pm on ESPN)

Call Me Crazy: A Five Film – 8 pm on Lifetime (coproduced by Jennifer Aniston, with a star-studded cast)

Mary and Martha – 8 pm on HBO (original movie starring Hilary Swank)

UFC: Henderson vs. Melendez – 8 pm on FOX

Sunday:

NBA Playoffs – 1 pm on TNT (Indiana vs. Atlanta, followed by Miami vs. Milwaukee at 7 pm)

Dog & Beth: On The Hunt – 8 pm on CMT (new series)

The Real Housewives of Atlanta – 8 pm on Bravo (Part 3 of the reunion)

Big Rich Atlanta – 9 pm on Style (season finale)

What Would Ryan Lochte Do? – 10 pm on E! (series premiere, followed by the season premiere of Married to Jonas; Ryan Seacrest interviews the Kardashians at 9 pm)

Game on! We have more sports programming for you, with the addition of NBC Sports Live Extra to the My Verizon website. Just like the other NBCUniversal channels we launched earlier this year, the NBC Sports programming will be available to watch right on the My Verizon website.

NBC Sports Network features live and on demand programming on the My Verizon site. The 2013 live event programing features everything from the remainder of the NHL regular season, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final; to Premiere League and Major League Soccer; to Formula One and IndyCar races, horse races and more. Verizon FiOS TV customers will have access to on demand and live programming from NBC, NBC Sports Network and Golf Channel, resulting in more than 4,000 hours of programming this year alone.

If you’re looking for something to watch this weekend, FiOS has something special for you: a free preview featuring all Starz and Encore channels. This is perfect timing, since the Spartacus season finale airs tonight, after which Starz is debuting a new series, “Da Vinci’s Demons.” See below for the times those shows first air, plus a selection of other programs and sporting events airing during the coming week.

Friday:

Fashion Star – 8 pm on NBC

Live From Lincoln Center – 9 pm on PBS (Josh Groban performs)

Spartacus – 9 pm on Starz (series finale)

Da Vinci’s Demons – 10 pm on Starz (new series)

Saturday:

NASCAR Racing: Sprint Cup in Fort Worth – 7 pm on FOX

Louis C.K.: Oh My God – 10 pm on HBO

Life with Latoya – 10:30 pm on OWN

Saturday Night Live – 11:30 pm on NBC (Vince Vaughn is back as host)

Calling all sports fans! If you're looking for more sports programming with your FiOS TV service, we have a new answer for you. Verizon is introducing a new option with the launch of the Sports Pass package.

Sports Pass is perfect for the FiOS TV customer who is looking for a wide variety of sports programming but doesn’t subscribe to our Ultimate HD package. The package includes 10 channels today and we’ll be adding more soon. Available for $9.99 per month, Sports Pass can be added to FiOS TV Local, FiOS TV Select HD, Prime HD, Extreme HD and La Conexion. All of the Sports Pass channels are included in the Ultimate HD package.

The following blog was written by Monica Vila, Founder and Chief Technology Mom at www.theonlinemom.com and Verizon at Home contributor. Follow Monica on Twitter at @theonlinemom!

I am always looking for ways to save money, so when I heard about people giving up their home phones in favor of their smartphones, I was more than a little intrigued. Is it possible that mobile devices have become so ubiquitous that a home phone is no longer necessary?

I decided to carry out a little experiment and monitor how many times the home phone rang, or was used to make a call, over the course of a couple of days. The results were surprising.

While my smartphone dominates when it comes to non-verbal communication – texting, e-mail, tweets, etc. – it doesn’t even come close to matching the home phone for voice calls. The kids’ schools, the doctor’s office, the local store, the dry cleaner’s, the cable company – if people are trying to reach me during the day, they call my home phone, preferring to leave a message rather than track me down on my cell.

Mad Men is finally back this Sunday night! We can also look forward to a few new shows, the end of March Madness, and Wrestlemania. You can find more details on Wrestlemania in the One More Note section below. For those of you interested in what else might be airing on TV, here’s a look at a selection of programs and sporting events airing during the coming week.

Friday:

Major League Baseball – 1 pm on MLB Network (Tigers vs Yankees, followed by games at 4 pm and 7 pm)

Happy Endings – 8 pm on ABC

Vice – 9 pm on HBO (new series)

Spartacus – 9 pm on Starz

Saturday:

NCAA Basketball – 6 pm on CBS (Wichita State vs. Louisville, followed by Syracuse vs. Michigan at 8:30 pm)

Smash – 9 pm on NBC (new day/time and Liza Minnelli guest stars!)

20/20 General Hospital – 9 pm on NBC (Katie Couric celebrates the show’s 50^th anniversary)

Saturday Night Live – 11:30 pm on NBC (Melissa McCarthy is back as host with musical guest Phoenix)

Operating in such a hotly competitive environment, we enjoy receiving accolades, particularly when they come from the public at large.

This week, not only was FiOS recognized, but so too were the hair-thin strands of fiber that together create our FiOS network to deliver voice, Internet and TV service to millions of consumers.

For the sixth consecutive year, FiOS was honored by consumers in an annual survey about communication services and how they’re bundled.

In the all important category of bundles, roughly three in four of those with triple- or quad-play packages said they would either definitely or probably buy their present bundle of services again.

This type of consumer insight is helpful because it speaks to the value of bundling, and how bundles represent the greatest overall value.  At Verizon, our triple-play bundles can, on average, save individual customers as much as 45 to 50 percent per month as compared to ordering home phone, Internet and TV services from separate providers.

FiOS TV is offering more than 40 Spanish-language channels for free!

For one week, FiOS TV customers can experience all of the great programming available on some of our most popular Spanish-language channels. All of the channels are part of our Spanish Language package, which features 69 channels, 11 of which are in HD. That means that this week’s free preview includes more than half of the channels available in the package!

March Madness continues and some of our favorite shows air their season finales this week. Plus, FiOS has much more in store for you with three free previews. Check out the One More Note section below for information on the HBO/Cinemax, MLB Extra Innings and Spanish-language channels free previews coming your way. Now here’s a look at a selection of other programs airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

Happy Endings – 8 pm on ABC (two new episodes followed by a new Shark Tank)

Fashion Star – 8 pm on NBC

American Masters: Philip Roth: Unmasked – 9 pm on PBS

Saturday:

Doctor Who – 8 pm on BBC America (series return)

Saturday Night Live – 10 pm on NBC (two repeats air tonight: Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo followed by Justin Bieber as host)

The following blog was written by Monica Vila, Founder and Chief Technology Mom at www.theonlinemom.com and Verizon at Home contributor. Follow Monica on Twitter at @theonlinemom!

Getting Up to Speed

By Monica Vila

I love having my teenage son’s friends over to the house but even I have been a little surprised at the frequency of their recent visits. Almost every other day, 3 or 4 of them will troop through the kitchen after school, grab a snack, and head to the family room, emerging an hour or two later when it’s time for homework or hunger drives them back to their own houses.

As I said, I love having these kids over. It gives me a chance to find out who my son is hanging out with, and it’s amazing what tidbits of knowledge I can pick up when 4 or 5 teenage boys are having an unguarded conversation. But I have often wondered why they keep choosing our house for their after-school activities, rather than one of the other boys’ equally welcoming homes.

Computer too slow? Here are 5 tips that may help speed things along.

As March Madness continues, basketball fans have plenty of TV watching to keep them busy. You can read more about that in the One More Note section below. If you’re looking for something other than basketball, here’s a look at a selection of other programs and sporting events airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

Last Man Standing – 8 pm on ABC (Jonathan Taylor Thomas joins his former TV Dad)

Fashion Star – 8 pm on NBC

Tanked – 9 pm on Animal Planet (season premiere)

Saturday:

LPGA Tour Golf: Kia Classic – 7 pm on GOLF

Nickelodeon’s 2013 Kids’ Choice Awards – 8 pm on Nickelodeon (Josh Duhamel hosts)

Romeo Killer: The Christ Porco Story – 8 pm on Lifetime

The following is a guest blog by Bob Elek, a Tampa-based member of Verizon’s PR team.

Post-up, box-out, lay-up, drive the lane, dunk, hoist up a trey – we’re about to see the many basketball moves that together help bring the madness to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.  And thanks to Turner Sports and CBS Sports, you’ll have a different screen for every possible play available to you throughout the tournament.

Watching HBO GO and MAX GO just got easier for FiOS TV customers. We are making HBO and Cinemax programming available directly from the My Verizon website.

Now, FiOS TV customers can log on to the My Verizon website and watch all 1,400 hours of programming that HBO and Cinemax offer each month. Just like the programming from NBCUniversal networks that we told you about here and here, HBO GO and MAX GO are now available to watch right on the Verizon website. Less clicks and more content in one place equals more convenient viewing.

Great news for all of the soccer fans out there! We announced today that we are adding beIN SPORT HD and beIN SPORT en Español HD to the FiOS TV lineup.

We’ve heard from many of the soccer fans out there about the importance of beIN SPORT, and now we’re giving it to you. For those of you who don’t know, beIN SPORT features live and exclusive coverage of the world’s best soccer and international sports. This includes all of the top soccer leagues and tournaments from Europe and South America, including Spain’s La Liga, Italy’s Serie A, France’s Ligue 1, South American World Cup Qualifiers and Copa America 2015. beIN SPORT also carries the U.S. Men’s National Soccer team away games for the 2014 World Cup, plus international tennis, golf, volleyball, rugby, handball, motorsports and more.

There’s something for everyone in the family this week, starting tonight with the new Wizards of Waverly Place movie. You may remember hearing about the new movie and ways to catch up on previous Wizards episodes on demand in the Feb. 15^th What to Watch post. Here’s your look at that and a selection of other programs and sporting events airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

The Wizards Returns: Alex vs. Alex – 8 pm on Disney

The World According to Dick Chaney – 9 pm on Showtime

Ron White’s Vegas Salute to the Troops – 10 pm on CMT

Banshee – 10 pm on Cinemax (season 1 finale)

Saturday:

Tom Dick & Harriet – 9 pm on Hallmark

The Graham Norton Show – 10 pm on BBC America (season finale)

Saturday Night Live – 11:30 pm on NBC (it’s a repeat of the Jennifer Lawrence episode)

Great news! FiOS TV customers now have access to even more online TV programming. Golf Channel is now available on the My Verizon website with live and on demand programming. Plus, we’ve added three more NBCUniversal channels, in addition to the 11 networks that launched in February. The three new channels are E!, Style and Sprout. In addition, you can now watch MSNBC live.  You can read about the other 11 channels here.

FiOS TV customers can log on to the My Verizon website with your user name and password, and watch a variety of programming from this growing number of networks. Choose the network you want to watch and you’re all set to go – no redirecting to other sites or any other work is involved.

This week, it seems TV is all about Justin Timberlake. He’s hosting SNL and joining Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (12:30 am on NBC) every night this week! Here’s your look at that and a selection of other programs airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

Fashion Star – 8 pm on NBC (Nicole Richie & Jessica Simpson return for season 2)

Grimm – 9 pm on NBC (mid-season premiere)

Spartacus – 9 pm on Starz

Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street – 10 pm on Fuse (season 2 finale of comedian Billy Eichner's show)

Saturday:

Restless Virgins – 8 pm on Lifetime (based on a true story)

Ripper Street – 9 pm on BBC America (season finale)

Saturday Night Live – 11:30 pm on NBC (Justin Timberlake is host and musical guest for the 5^th time)

Ed.’s note: Today marks the 137^th anniversary of the awarding of the first telephone patent to Alexander Graham Bell. Our company owes much to Bell’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. The Verizon Pioneers are one group of former employees who work tirelessly to keep Bell’s legacy alive through community service.

Would you be surprised if I told you that Alexander Graham Bell was disappointed with his invention of the telephone?

Although the telephone is considered one of the most valuable patents in history, Bell had envisioned his invention as a hearing device, as his true dream was working with people who had hearing and speech impediments. The telephone, however, ended up being something else entirely and Bell put his dream on hold.

The following is a guest blog by Monica Vila, Verizon FiOS Ambassador. Find her on Twitter @theonlinemom!

As we have become more reliant on apps and web-based services for both work and entertainment, we are learning to be more discerning about the networks that deliver those services. This is particularly true when we are on-the-move, with access to networks outside of our trusted home and office environments.

The following is a guest blog by Bob Elek, a Tampa-based member of Verizon's PR team.

My wife and I are pretty old-fashioned when it comes to technology.  But does that make us prehistoric techies?  Not exactly.

It’s Friday and that means it’s time for another look at all of the great television programming coming your way. In addition to the various dramas, comedies and reality TV, this week on FiOS we have a free preview for all the soccer fans. All this weekend, MLS Direct Kick is available to all FiOS TV customers, for free, on channels 1490-1499 and 1489 for HD. Watch all your favorite teams battle it out on the field. There’s Philly vs. Kansas City on Saturday (4 pm), LA vs. Chicago on Sunday (5 pm) and more. Now, here’s your look at a selection of other programs and sporting events airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

Nikita – 8 pm on CW

Portlandia – 10 pm on IFC

Banshee – 10 pm on Cinemax

Saturday:

American Ninja Warrior – 8 pm on NBC

Blackboard Wars – 9 pm on OWN

The Graham Norton Show – 10:15 pm on BBC America (guests include Richard Gere and Saoirse Ronan)

Ed.’s note: The following guest blog was written by Les Kumagai, Verizon PR’s Los Angeles-based Industry Analyst Relations guru and (sometimes) behind-the-scenes Hollywood reporter.

Now that the statuettes have been awarded, you’ve realized how many of these great movies you’ve yet to see. Don’t fret. Of the 14 honorees listed below, more than half, including Argo, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, are available on FiOS On Demand weeks before the other guys have them. And in just a few weeks, more amazing films like Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, and Les Miserables will debut on FiOS. Ready to watch? Press the “On Demand” button on your FiOS TV remote control, choose Video on Demand from the menu, or go to Channel 900. You can also learn more online at FiOS On Demand.

There's an interesting story unfolding about the growing importance broadband has in our daily life.

During the past week alone, we’ve seen the Federal Communications Commission issue the results of its third broadband performance tests, “Measuring Broadband America.”

The FCC’s most recent tests involved 14 of the nation’s biggest Internet service providers.  For the first time, the FCC included in its measurement some of our newest FiOS Quantum speeds (meaning 50 megabits per second or higher).  It shouldn’t come as a surprise that those speeds performed well, as did all our FiOS speed tiers.

Today, the average U.S. household has an average of seven Internet-connected devices; and that figure should easily reach double digits in just a few years.  But that’s not the only thing happening in households that’s driving demand for faster broadband.  Just as the total number of devices grows, so too is the number of those devices being used simultaneously.  The current figure is 3.8 per household, and that figure should keep rising too.

The Oscars are Sunday night! I’m ready for another awards show. Are you? What else are you watching this week? Here’s your look at a selection of programs and sporting events airing on TV during the coming week.

Friday:

Nikita – 8 pm on The CW

Kitchen Nightmares – 8 pm on FOX

CSI: NY – 9 pm on CBS (season finale)

Saturday:

Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? – 9 pm on WE TV (season 3 premiere)

UFC 157: Women’s Bantamweight Championship – 10 pm on Pay Per View

Film Independent Spirit Awards – 10 pm on IFC (hosted by Andy Samberg)

As you know, Verizon is all about giving our customers exactly what they need in order to live a borderless lifestyle, and today we have even more good news -- we’ve added 11 networks from NBCUniversal to your MY Verizon website. What does this mean? You can log on to the My Verizon website and watch the great programming that these networks offer right there, without getting redirected to another website. The networks are: Bravo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC News, NBC, Syfy, mun2, Telemundo and Cozi TV. And for you news buffs – CNBC is offering a live stream.