Although Oregon received those shiny new high-def channels a few days back, everyone else (Ft. Wayne notwithstanding) is wondering when exactly they can expect 'em. Verizon has just posted up an official rollout schedule, which has New York getting them today, Northern New Jersey on July 30th and the rest of the gang sometime in August. Let us know if your town gets anything early (or late), won't you?

[Thanks, J]

We're still trying to decipher all of this, but we've received word that AT&T is intending to create two different service levels for its U-verse customers. Essentially, it will be extending the current loop limitation from around 3,000 feet to 3,400 feet from the VRAD, which sounds as if this could enable more customers to receive service in U-verse areas. For folks less than 3,000 feet away from the VRAD, 2 HD / 2 SD service will be available; for individuals between 3,001 and 3,400 feet away, you'll be stuck with 1 HD / 3 SD -- but at least you've have the option of signing up, right? Early signs show the two-tiered service kicking off in St. Louis real soon, with a dozen or so other markets following suit by October.

[Thanks, Anonymous]

Maybe you haven't noticed, but AT&T is a big fan of the Olympics. It has already provided U-verse customers with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage during the run-up to the Games, and now it's vowing to give Olympics junkies everywhere even more footage that they'll never, ever have time to watch. On the U-verse front, we're talking about material which includes "a wrap-up of the best events of the day as well as on-demand access to between 15 and 20 unique events each day," while wireless and broadband customers will be able to tap into all sorts of other Olympics-related stuff. So, anyone plan on cloning themselves to keep up with all of this?

It took awhile, but the rumor finally proved true. AT&T's U-verse has at long last made it to South Florida. Just days after Verizon announced that its competing FiOS TV service was available to some 800,000 members of the Sunshine State, in soars AT&T to bring its fiber-based programming service to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Currently, consumers in parts of dozens of communities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties can place their order, while folks in Palm Beach county will be forced to wait until July 28th. No word on how soon it'll reach your neck of the woods down there, but the carrier has vowed to "make U-verse services available to more homes throughout South Florida on an ongoing basis."

Move over, 2012. 2010 is up first, and Aspen Optics is asserting that it'll be a banner year for fiber. Granted, we're taking all of this pretty lightly given the industry that it's in, but nevertheless, said company is proclaiming that FTTH (fiber to the home) will soon be known as FTEH (fiber to every home) while FTTO (fiber to the office) will morph into FTEO (fiber to every office). The proclamation does note that we're talking about "developed nations" here, and the release does tend to focus on the UAE in particular, but this provides good fodder for discussion if nothing else. Do you see fiber booming in just 18 months? We're guessing it'll take a few more years beyond that for it to really make a play for significant cable market share, but hey, we'd love to be wrong.

[Via Developing Telecoms]

You'd think that if a provider had only added one HD channel in the past year -- and was falling behind its competition in the HD arms race -- that it'd be the first to proudly announce any new additions, but you'd be wrong. FiOS subscribers around the country started reporting on Saturday that USA HD and CNBC HD showed up in the guide as channels 884 and 879, respectively. The rumor is that this is in preparation of all the Olympics coverage in HD on those channels, and this makes sense as in addition, there were also two dedicated Olympics HD channels added to the guide at 896 and 897, which are currently displaying nothing more than color bars now.

You probably realized that our weekly FiOS TV expansion post was nowhere to be found last week. Just an FYI: that's a direct result of Verizon not announcing a single new locale for its service. Apparently it was shoring 'em up, though, as this week a whole slew of neighborhoods are getting service. We've got eight more communities in New Jersey, yet another Bay State region, Hampton, Virginia and the very first community in Washington state to land a FiOS TV video franchise. If you're near any of these places, check out the links below for all the details. We'll see you next week -- here's to hoping your neck of the woods gets covered within the next seven days.

Read - Washington State expansion
Read - Hampton, Virginia expansion
Read - New Jersey expansion
Read - Massachusetts expansion

Just a few months after AT&T announced that it would be offering U-verse customers exclusive access to Team USA's Olympics preparation, the carrier is trumpeting yet another similar agreement that will give its subscribers a look at USA Basketball. The new partnership will give AT&T U-verse users access to team content on demand, not to mention other material accessible via the web and AT&T mobile phones. Looking for specifics? Try "behind-the-scenes footage including selection of the team, USA Basketball Training Camp, exhibition game highlights, USA Basketball video segments, interviews with athletes and coaches and other vignettes."

[Image courtesy of Savannah Now]

The NY Public Service Commission decided to approve Verizon's petition for a Certificate of Confirmation yesterday, removing the final hurdle to FiOS eventually becoming available in all five boroughs. Details from the PSC's release (warning: PDF link) indicate the franchise agreement is for 12 years, and grants Verizon waivers on a few usual requirements intended to give it time to build up service in the city. It could take up to six years to reach fiber to the entire city, and has also been granted 180 extra days to add public, educational and government channels. No word on exactly when New Yorkers expect that all digital, uncompressed competition for their local cable company (Verizon's PR indicates only "in the coming weeks"), but with the last hurdle out of the way it should be sooner rather than later.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Read - Verizon press release
Read - State of New York Public service Commission Approval

We can't say for certain how long the above pictured splash screen has been around on AT&T's website, but if "2 room DVR service" means "whole-home DVR" service, we're left with just one question: where? One of the U-verse issues that has long since held it back from being viewed as a killer programming service was the inability to serve up various DVR recordings around the home, and while AT&T has been promising that said feature was on the way for nearly a year, there's still nothing to show for it. You only need shuffle through a few pages of the U-talk forums to find a plethora of angered individuals, and while some are optimistic that WHDVR is imminent now that 2 HD / 2 SD is spreading across the land, others are understandably skeptical (and bitter, too). So, AT&T -- when can these loyal users expect WHDVR to really be implemented? And for those on the fence, is this limitation the primary thing holding you back from embracing fiber?

[Thanks, Todd]

We've never been ones to count our chickens before they hatch, but there's a very, very interesting tidbit snuck into the New York Public Service Commission's July 16th meeting agenda. The very last bullet points on the very last page of the notice reads as shown above, which leads us to believe that the carrier may receive the approval it needs in order to string FiOS TV to the entire Empire State, New York City included. Cross your fingers -- we have all ideas that Verizon will be trumpeting its success the moment this goes down (should it go down, of course). Our biggest fear? That everyone breaks for an extended lunch just after Page 10. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Thanks, Vin P]

Nope, still no U-verse for Miami, Florida, but TV lovers in Miami Valley (Ohio) can start popping those corks. Folks in said area can start phoning up AT&T to see if U-verse TV, high-speed internet and digital phone is available for their place of residence, but here's a hint -- citizens living in Beavercreek, Butler Township, Centerville, Clayton, Dayton, Fairborn, Huber Heights, Kettering, Mad River Township, Miami Township, Miamisburg, Moraine, Northridge, Oakwood, Riverside, Springfield, Springfield Township, Vandalia, Washington Township, West Carrollton and Woodbourne-Hyde Park have the best shot at hearing "yes." Also of note, 2 HD / 2 SD is in full effect, which leads us to believe that said feature will be the norm from here on out.

We had a hunch this rumor would prove true, and while the four new HD channels on U-verse did show up later than expected, they're there, regardless. AT&T has just flipped the switch on four newcomers: USA HD, Bravo HD, SciFi HD and CNBC HD. U-talk forum members from all across the country are chiming in with smiles all around, so be sure to let us know if (for whatever reason) your area has yet to see 'em.

[Thanks, anonym ous]

Okay, so we're not really sure what makes Verizon's FiOS TV for Business that much different than vanilla FiOS TV -- besides the sweet bundle deal with those ultra-speedy Business internet plans -- but whatever the case, it's here. Nothing to bust out the party hats over, but select areas within the FiOS TV footprint can now sign up for a FiOS TV service "designed for small and medium-sized businesses (saywha?)." We're told that pricing for the service begins at $49.99 per month, and so far as we can tell, everything that's available to current FiOS TV subscribers is available here. Thanks for the head scratcher, Verizon.

Ahem, Verizon? Yeah -- pretty sure we're well aware of your intentions to carry Big Ten Network on FiOS TV. You know, considering it was in the tagline of your release last week affirming the addition of 22 new channels. Nevertheless, things seem to be more official than ever now, with both Verizon and the BTN jointly announcing that it will soon be available in both SD and HD flavors. Currently, the channel is only live in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, but it's scheduled to roll out to other areas during the next few months. Thanks for the reminder Verizon, now, could you launch it any sooner maybe?