Long awaited update: 26 new HD channels coming to FiOS in July

I'm pretty busy, so I'll have to keep this short... but it looks like good times are coming. FiOS subscribers have had no new word on when to expect new HD channels since we were told "Spring 2008" about 9 months ago. Rumor has it that we (well most of us...) will be watching 48 new SD channels and 26 new HD channels before the end of July. Here's a list of what we can expect on the HD side:

1. Animal Planet HD
2. TBS HD
3. ESPNews HD
4. Big Ten Network HD
5. The History Channel HD
6. MOJO HD
7. CNN HD
8. The Learning Channel HD
9. Showtime Too HD East
10. Cinemax West HD
11. The Science Channel HD
12. Showtime HD West
13. HBO West HD
14. The Weather Channel HD
15. Starz Edge HD
16. USA HD
17. Versus / Golf HD
18. Starz Comedy HD
19. Bravo HD
20. CNBC HD
21. Starz Kids and Family HD
22. Outdoor Channel HD
23. SCI FI HD
24. Lifetime HD East
25. Smithsonian HD
26. Pay Per View HD (Events)

Head over to Engadget HD for more details. I apologize for the quick post, but it looks like the end to our HD drought is in sight!

Poll Results: What is a reasonable price for HD VOD movies?

Our results from the most recent poll are in. The response wasn't huge, but one thing is clear: Verizon needs to lower the prices for HD VOD movies. As further proof that my gripes about the per-movie price weren't crazy, it seems that 100% of respondents agreed with me that a reasonable price is somewhat lower than $5.99:

$2.99 - 2 (33%)

$3.99 - 3 (50%)

$4.99 - 1 (16%)

I could see paying $6-a-pop if you could store the movie on your DVR and watch it over again later. But, as it stands, I can't justify the price. Big V needs to realize... Times are tight, and I've gotta pay for gas and stockpiled rice.

FiOS rate hikes on the way

The economy is slowing down, and your expenses are going up. With growing prices for gas and groceries, at least you don't have to worry about paying more for your FiOS, right? Wrong. Verizon has definite plans for rate hikes in the second quarter of 2008. No specifics on what the new rates will be, but here's a rundown of the average uppage from last time:

Verizon just increased the price of the primary FiOS TV programming package for new subscribers, as of Jan. 20. The 200-channel FiOS TV Premier package now costs $47.99 per month for new customers, compared with $42.99 for customers who signed up last year.

And a year before that, it upped the rates for the Premier package from $39.95 to $42.99 for new customers as of Jan. 8, 2007.

So you'd best start pinching your pennies if you want to keep that HBO package. And it might be worth putting a few pennies away just in case that MLB Extra Innings package ever becomes available this season.

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Will Kern over at 15 Meanings has a post up where he vents about his troubles with the FiOS HD DVR. I can definitely feel his pain... if a DVR glitch had kept me from seeing Neil Diamond week on American Idol, I'd be livid. But Will is definitely not alone.

I've seen some degree of flakiness from my DVR, especially in the series management. About half way into the John Adams series on HBO, my box decided that the future episodes were not part of the same series and did not schedule them for recording. I noticed in time and set the DVR to record the second half as it's own series. In my series manager, John Adams was listed twice. Weird, eh? I know a number of my neighbors have had even more serious issues, too.

There are definitely some annoyances with the DVR... but is it worth going the Tivo/cable card route? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

FiOS bits and pieces

There hasn't been too much activity on the FiOS front so far in this still-young week, so I've rounded up a few random items that might be of interest.

FiOS Doesn't Play Nice with VOIP?

There was a bit of a dust-up over on Consumerist last week when a FiOS adopter was told that they would have to convert their VOIP lines from other providers to Verizon phone lines in order to become a FiOS customer. Verizon has dispelled this rumor as pure garbage, which in fact only means that the customer service representative was totally incompetent. Maybe a friendly Personal Account Manager would have helped in this situation?

How does Verizon "black out" games?

I saw this post over at ericd.net complaining that FiOS' Versus channel disappeared during a Bruins NHL playoff game last night, but the game was carried on NESN. I saw similar behavior during the Caps game the other night: the game was carried locally on Comcast Sports Net and nationally on Versus. I went to check the Versus feed and found just a black screen.

Putting both experiences together, I guess this is the FiOS way of less-than-elegantly blacking out a game. When I used to have DirecTV, I used to get a message that said something along the lines of "This game isn't available in your market". Hopefully Verizon can implement something a little more user friendly than just a missing feed.

FiOS HD Woes

Engadget stirred the pot a bit more yesterday re: FiOS' lack of HD options. While the post tells us nothing new, there are some nice links in there from the past six months that lay out why Verizon is stuck with the current size of their HD offering and what they're doing to fix it.

A little more "what's up" on the new FiOS PAMs

I mentioned these new FiOS personal account managers, or PAMs, in a post last Friday. At the time, I didn't have a clear idea of exactly who or what they would be or how they would work.

Luckily, the 'remove the labels' blog has more information about Verizon's new approach to customer service:

Here’s how it works: Each new FiOS TV-phone-Internet customer receives the name of an individual “PAM,” as Verizon is calling them, plus a refrigerator magnet with the manager’s cell phone number and e-mail address. Each “PAM” carries a Blackberry, works from 8AM to 8PM, and is responsible for around 800 customers. These new positions receive a base salary, but receive a bonus depending on how highly customers rate their support satisfaction.

Sounds pretty good on the face of it. These PAMs won't necessarily be able to fix all of your problems on their own, but they will serve as a friendly go-between for you with the much maligned Verizon customer service department. That would probably remedy 75% of complaints right away. Actually getting the customer service department to follow through would be the last 25%.

I'd like to see this system work and eventually be phased in for all FiOS customers nationwide, but the cynic in me wonders how much the PAMs cost and whether or not they will make enough of an impact in terms of customer retention and positive PR to justify that cost. We shall see.

Anyone out there have any PAM experience you would like to share?