Live coverage of Verizon's press conference

After LG's little oopsie earlier in the day, we'll be curious to see what Verizon Wireless has to tell us regarding its MediaFLO plans this afternoon. We've been seated in the ballroom; the conference is about to begin.

1:08PM PST - The event has started. Denny Strigl has taken the stage.

1:09 - "We are here to talk about TV."

1:10 - "We're going to turn up the bandwidth on the whole television experience."

1:12 - Two-fold strategy, great delivery system + great content. Nation's most comprehensive fiber network to the home. "Most reliable voice and data" wireless network. Six million homes with fiber.

1:14 - "Best user-generated videos and games" to television and phone.

1:15 - Two firsts announced today, both available before the end of first quarter. First is VCAST TV.

1:16 - Nation's first live mobile TV network.

1:18 - Other announcement is next-generation fiber network to the home.

1:19 - John Stratton takes the stage.

1:21 - Most major markets launch with VCAST TV by the end of first quarter. "True broadcast quality," programming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

1:23 - VCAST TV built on Qualcomm MediaFLO. Service has no effect on voice quality or capacity. Channel changes virtually instantaneous.

1:24 - "Premier lineup of content channels" - various MTV networks, NBC news and entertainment, CBS, FOX. Launch devices are Samsung Mobi, LG 9400.

1:25 - Comprehensive program guide, parental controls, companion website. Pricing and launch markets not being announced today.

1:26 - Bob Ingalls takes the stage.

1:27 - FiOS. New multimedia applications, new interactive media guide.

1:31 - Current generation being called "FiOS TV 1.0," now being upgraded to second generation.

1:33 - New media guide includes integrated search that can search through live TV, on demand content, and DVRed content at the same time. Uses predictive text, triple tap.

1:34 - Games being added to supplement music and photos. Internet radio / video and podcast content to come.

1:35 - Any web-enabled PC can manage FiOS boxes (DVR content, parental controls, etc.) and it'll be expanded to Verizon phones later in the year.

1:36 - FiOS 2.0 being tested in New Jersey, will be expanded to all ten FiOS states soon with a software update; no house visit necessary.

1:38 - Denny returns to the stage.

1:40 - Conference over, questions and answers.

Stay tuned for hands-on pics of all the goodies in the Verizon ballroom!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 8:38PM]

finally verizon does something to set itself apart from the competition!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 4:47PM]

FIOS 2.0 eh? Any details on what that meant?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 6:17PM]

I don't care, just get me FiOS.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 5:08PM]

"We're going to turn up the bandwidth on the whole television experience."

*turns dial one notch*

'WE'VE DONE IT!'

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 5:32PM]

WE'RE GONNA TURN THE SCHMULTZ BACK UP TO 11

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 7th 2007 6:12PM]

In New Jersey NICE! Hopefully it will be coming to my township though.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 8th 2007 12:46AM]

"Premier lineup of content channels"

Read QVC, Boomerang and The History Channel.