For the third quarter, television's new upstart--telco old-timer Verizon-- is reporting company record subscriber sign-up numbers, mostly for its fiber broadband and wireless services. By the end of the 3Q (Sept. 30), the company reported that it was deploying FiOS fiber-to-the-premises broadband (but not FiOS TV, per se) in 15 states, passing a total of 2.5 million homes and businesses.
In its quarterly financial statement released in late October, Verizon reported that it remains "on track" to pass 3 million homes/businesses by the end of this calendar year with FiOS services. It's a bit too early in the game to report and assess FiOS TV stats, although Verizon execs say they're encouraged by the number of initial (still undisclosed) FiOS TV sign-ups in its first bona fide TV market in Keller, Texas. That exurb service now provides more than 330 digital channels, including several national HD channels, and continues signing up content providers almost daily.
In the 35 markets where Verizon has been actively selling FiOS data services for more than six months (which rules out the handful of markets currently offering FiOS TV), the firm reports its market penetration is about 12.4 percent (which it says is an improvement over its DSL penetration rates over longer time frames). Verizon also boasts some 300,000 customers who receive a DBS service bundle from its "Verizon DirecTV" venture.
