GadgetRatty: Verizon FiOS TV heavily targeting apartments, condos in O.C. and more

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Verizon FiOS TV heavily targeting apartments, condos in O.C. and more

2008-10-16 23:34:02 by Gadgetress in Gadgetress

Verizon has faced a ton of hurdles in the three years it’s been rolling out FiOS TV, its alternative-to-cable TV service. And one of the toughest areas to infiltrate has been apartments, condos, high-rises and other multi-family dwellings.

People living in multi-unit buildings can’t just order the service from Verizon even if they see fliers and billboards everywhere in their city. Verizon needs permission from the building’s owner or condo assocation to even offer it.

But Eric Cevis, vice president of Verizon Enhanced Communities, said that his team is working hard to get that permission with incentives. It’s also getting easier to persuade owners to let Verizon in because consumers are more aware of FiOS’s TV service and high-speed Internet of up to 50 megabits per second.

One reason is legal: The FCC banned apartment owners and condo associations from granting a single TV service exclusive rights to offer TV to residents. This was done to cut the cable TV companies’ lock on multi-family dwellings and allow alternatives like satellite TV and now, Internet-based TV such as Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-Verse.

But other reasons that his job is getting easier include increased awareness among the community plus stepped-up marketing efforts by Cevis’ team. FiOS even has a site dedicated to “enhanced communities” to show the value of adding FiOS by offering reports and videos to owners and developers. His team cold calls owners, hangs fliers on doors and has made FiOS an amenity alongside wireless Internet and hot tubs in those free apartment-shopper guides.

“In 2005, that number (of owners that said no) was probably in the double digits percent, but I would say today, it’s around the high single digits,” Cevis said. “When they find out that we’re paying for the wired upgrade for free and willing to share the revenue model, they’re willing to talk.”

After getting permission, Verizon must physically dig up the ground to lay fiber-optic cables right to the building. And then, the company needs to sell the service to tenants. It’s figured out a sneaky way to get around the ‘exclusive’ ban. It offers to split revenue from sales with the building owner in exchange for an exclusive right to market its TV service to tenants, which isn’t the same as offering the service exclusively. Also, Verizon is offering incentives like flat-screen TVs to leasing agents who get new tenants to buy the service.

After that, it takes up to 90 days for service to start.

Here in Orange County, the service hasn’t expanded much beyond the initial cities. Today, the service is available, more or less, in Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, Lo Alamitos, Stanton, Westminster and some unincorporated areas of Orange County.

Verizon won’t say how many homes in O.C. can get FiOS. But in Southern California, it’ll be up to 1 million homes by the end of the year.

FiOS TV now offers 102 high-defintition channels for Southern California, excluding any on-demand HD channels. Basic service with 295 channels starts around $48/month.

If you are wondering when Verizon will come to you, call 800-483-4000 or check the FiOS TV site and plug in your home address or phone number. Unfortunately, this only tells you about your address. If you’re in a FiOS community but your building owner or condo association hasn’t added FiOS, this site won’t tell you whether the process has been started, rejected or should easily qualify if you just ask the owners.

With all this extra effort, Cevis hopes to have more than 1 million multi-family units eligible for FiOS by the end of the year. That’s up from 33,000 in 2005. But it’s still a long way to go. In the U.S., there are 17.5 million apartment units, according to the National Multi Housing Council.

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