User:VZBob/Verizon Fios History

History
In the mid-2000s, Verizon Communications made a move to compete against cable companies offering digital home phone service. Verizon began these efforts in the summer of 2004, when the company launched its Fios fiber-to-the-home internet service in Keller, Texas. The new internet service ran at up to 30 megabits per second, an increase from Verizon's DSL speeds of 1.5 megabits per second. Verizon followed up with Fios TV, a service with 180 digital channels, 20 high-definition channels and video on demand used by 9,000 customers in Keller.

With the introduction of Fios, Verizon replaced portions of its aging system of copper phone lines with fiber optics that carried TV, internet and digital phone service directly to properties. To do so, Verizon had to secure franchise agreements from local governments that allowed the company to provide TV service to new areas. A month after Fios TV became available in Keller, governments in California, New York, Massachusetts, Florida and Washington, D.C., approved Verizon's plans to unroll its fiber optic network. By the end of 2006, Fios reached customers in California, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas. Over the next few years, Fios expanded to South Carolina, Washington state, Oregon, Indiana and Rhode Island. In 2008, Fios TV reached its millionth subscriber and the service came to Verizon Communications' hometown, New York City.

In addition to expanding its customer base, Verizon expanded its services in the first few years. Verizon Fios launched its digital video recorder, Home Media DVR, in 2006. Fios' 2.0 update in 2007 featured an updated user interface, and Fios customers could use widgets for localized content, such as weather and traffic. By the end of 2008, Fios offered more than 150 HD channels.

Verizon Communications sold its landlines and other assets in 14 states to Frontier Communications for $8.6 billion in 2009; the deal included Fios service in Indiana, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington. Then in March 2010, several months after announcing that Fios reached 2.86 million Fios TV and 3.43 million Fios Internet subscribers, Verizon halted its expansion of Fios beyond the expansion efforts that were already underway, like those in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.

Doug Michelson, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, said in 2010 that "Verizon has been overspending to acquire Fios customers". Some viewed the halt in expansion as a violation of Verizon's agreements with some municipalities and states, since they argue Verizon collected revenue to deploy infrastructure upgrades that never occurred. Verizon defended itself against criticism over Fios rollouts, saying it met its deployment obligations.

Also in March 2010, Verizon Fios pulled The Weather Channel and its sister network, Weatherscan, from its system after the two parties failed to come to terms on a new carriage agreement. Fios replaced the services with AccuWeather Network and a widget with weather forecasts provided by WeatherBug. While Verizon claimed it was a long-term business decision (instead of a carriage dispute) that it made, The Weather Channel launched a campaign to urge viewers to contact Fios about restoring the cable channel and its services.

Fios TV reached 3 million subscribers in April 2010. In the next few years, Verizon launched an updated version of its Fios services. Fios Quantum Internet in 2012 featured increased internet speeds, and 2014's Fios Quantum TV served as a media hub DVR box with more memory and the ability to record simultaneously more shows than its previous system.

ESPN Inc. sued Verizon in April 2015 for breaching its carriage contract by offering ESPN and ESPN2 as part of a separate sports package under its new "Custom TV" service. ESPN's contract requires the two networks to be carried as part of the basic service. Verizon and ESPN reached a deal in May 2016. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cablevision sued Verizon in United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on May 19, 2015, to challenge Verizon's claim that it is 100 percent fiber-based. The two companies agreed to end the dispute in September 2015. The terms of the deal were not disclosed at the time.

By the end of 2015, Verizon had 7 million Fios Internet subscribers and 5.8 million Fios TV subscribers. About 1.2 million Fios TV customers in California, Texas and Florida transferred to Frontier Communications when Verizon and the Connecticut-based business completed another deal in April 2016, this one worth $10.5 billion.

Six years after halting Fios expansion in new cities, Verizon announced in April 2016 that it would further develop the Fios network in Boston, Massachusetts. Verizon planned for the $300 million rollout to take six years to complete. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said the company was only focusing on expanding in Boston at the time.