Fios

VERIZON FiOS is being blocked by Frank Rizzo Jr. and Wilson Goode Jr. from coming into Philly. FiOS being voted in would bring in millions of dollars of revenue to the city since Verizon would have to pay a percentage of its profits to the city annually on top of a flat fee of at least $10 million. When libraries and pools are scheduled to close and firehouses are losing equipment, what personal interest could Goode and Rizzo have in assisting Comcast in keeping Verizon and the millions in financial profit for Philadelphia locked out?

Verizon Communications Inc. customers in Southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware lost FiOS Internet service for four to five hours early Tuesday morning because software problems, a company spokesman said. The problem was fixed by about 9:30 a.m. FiOS TV and phone service were not interrupted, spokesman Lee Gierczynski said. - Bob Fernandez

CITY COUNCIL has a prime opportunity to provide Philadelphians with the long-sought and well-deserved ability to choose another cable TV provider - one with a proven record of solid performance and service. And Verizon is eager for prompt Council action so we can begin to offer Philadelphians a superior choice for their cable service. And choice is good. Residents will be able to change providers that offer subpar service. Choice will lead to better value as competitors fight for customers through pricing and special offers.

News, weather, and sports 24/7. Why not traffic? From a warehouse on a side street in Malvern, Tango Traffic went on the air Jan. 1 to report rubbernecking and crashes, whether at the height of rush hour or in the dead of night or the middle of a storm like the one that covered roads with ice Tuesday and Wednesday. Although KYW-AM (1060) reads traffic and transit "on the 2's" around the clock on the radio, Tango's creators say they saw a void in the marketplace. "People want information where they want it and when they want it and how they want it," said chief executive Tim Chambers, an entrepreneur with a background in television and filmmaking whose operation, Quaker Media, is partnering with Tribune Co.'s PHL17.

Verizon Communications Inc. is boosting Internet speeds in its FiOS service tiers and will double the fastest download speed to 300 megabits a second. The fastest upload jumps to 65 megabits a second from 35 megabits. Bandwidth-hogging video and the proliferation of home devices is driving Internet consumption, the company said. The faster speeds — which take effect in June — allow the FiOS network to move data more quickly. The average home now has seven Internet-connected devices using a wired or WiFi Internet connection and by 2015 the average home is projected to have between nine and 15 Internet-connected devices.

Media companies have committed to pay more than $110 billion for the TV rights to show live sports well into the next decade. These giant financial obligations are higher than a cost estimate reported in The Inquirer in 2012 and follow two years of frenzied bidding for TV sports content, such as Comcast Corp.'s $4.4 billion cost to televise the Olympics through 2020. Recent corporate regulatory filings detail the huge bet the nation's largest media companies - the Walt Disney Co., CBS Corp., Time Warner, and News Corp.

With sports-channel costs soaring, Verizon Communication Inc.'s FiOS TV service says it will surcharge almost five million customers $2.42 a month for regional sports networks and this week launched its first non-sports cable-TV package. FiOS Select HD costs $49.99 a month versus $64.99 for a FiOS package with ESPN and other sports channels. DirecTV, the nation's second-largest pay-TV operator after Comcast Corp., also is implementing sports-related surcharges. The actions come amid a national debate over sports entertainment, which is now estimated to account for half the programming costs in the typical cable- and satellite-TV bill.

Philadelphia residents could see a pay-TV slugfest. Verizon Communications Inc. has quietly negotiated a deal with city officials to offer FiOS in Philadelphia, a market dominated by cable giant Comcast Corp., which is headquartered in Center City. In a surprise move, City Councilman Darrell Clarke introduced a bill yesterday to award a 15-year cable franchise to Verizon. He offered it on behalf of Mayor Nutter, who took office in January and appears to have fast-tracked the talks.

Two years ago, Gus Gadonas saw the Verizon lineman stringing fiber-optic FiOS wires through his neighborhood in East Pikeland Township, Chester County. He ordered the new FiOS high-speed Internet service right away. Last year, Verizon Communications Inc. ran a special $100 rebate for customers who added FiOS TV. Gadonas leaped at that offer, too. The Internet was super-fast, he said, and the TV service was an alternative to Comcast. "The only complaint is that I don't think their on-demand product is up to snuff with Comcast," said Gadonas.