Verizon FiOS TV: Can You Believe These Guys?
The telco's TV service is setting an alarming track record of over-promising and under-delivering.
By Swanni
“This is a popular service, and we want to be able to offer that to FiOS customers,” Verizon senior vice president of media relations Eric Rabe said at the time.
However, Multichannel News reports today that Verizon still hasn't signed a deal with MLB -- nearly one month into the 2008 season. This despite the February assurance that the agreement would be reached "soon."
"We gave you (in February) the best information we had at the time," Rabe said in a recent blog entry at Verizon's web site, "but TV content negotiations are complex and often take many months to complete. We still expect to begin providing MLB EI during the 2008 baseball season but, as I said before, it will not be available in all markets as soon as the ink is dry on the contract."
One could surmise that many baseball fans stayed with Verizon in February on the belief that the telco would soon deliver the Extra Innings package. After all, that's what Verizon said. But now that the agreement looks more questionable, you couldn't blame those fans if they feel a bit deceived.
What is Verizon saying now?
However, the discrepancy could be easily dismissed if it weren't for the fact that Verizon seems to have a track record of promising one thing and delivering another when it comes to its TV service.
To wit:
* Verizon last year included a free Sharp LCD HDTV in a promotional offer for FiOS. However, after signing up a large number of new subscribers, the telco said it suddenly ran out of free Sharp TVs. Dow Jones reports that Verizon instead offered new customers a less attractive Magnavox set or a $200 Best Buy gift card as an alternative.
* Verizon said last November that it would offer 150 HD channels by year's end. However, the telco now offers fewer than 40 HD channels and has yet to say exactly when those 150 networks will be added.
* Verizon is running a TV ad campaign saying that CNET.com has said that its FiOS TV service is "near flawless." However, as it turns out, CNET actually never said that; the technology web site published an article saying that it was important for Verizon to offer a "near flawless" TV experience, given the intense competition in the TV category.
In our view, the telco is exhibiting a 'fast and loose' approach to the facts when promoting High-Definition TV and related TV services. We realize that as a relative newcomer to the field, Verizon must be aggressive in marketing its service as it tries to peel away longtime cable and satellite subscribers.
However, there's a line between aggressive and misleading and Verizon seems all too willing to cross that line.
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Swanni (Phillip Swann) is president and publisher of
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Chicago Tribune, The Financial Times, The Associated Press
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