It has been a pretty quiet week for Verizon on the FiOS TV front, and while a slew of new places were treated to FiOS high-speed internet, just a few locales picked up notices of incoming TV service. Nevertheless, Snohomish County, Washington granted the provider a video franchise, as did the village of Fishkill, New York. Glocester and Smithfield, Rhode Island residents, on the other hand, can place their orders right now should their home be within the service area. We'll see you next week -- here's to hoping your neck of the woods gets covered within the next seven days.

Read - Washington expansion
Read - New York expansion
Read - Rhode Island expansion

No surprises here, but we figured you'd be interested in knowing that DirecTV is indeed keeping its promise of rolling out HD locals in a few new markets this summer. According to an attentive local in Rochester, New York, high-def locals have been fired up in his area, and according to official verbiage from the satcaster, Lincoln, NE can say the same. With 44 DMAs on tap, we suspect this will be the first two in a long, long list that will unfold as the months progress.

[Thanks, Jim]

New York is next in line after Massachusetts and Chicago, with the New York Times' CityRoom blog reporting it is next in RCN's plan to rid itself bandwidth-wasting of analog cable TV. Starting October 1, basic cable customers will suddenly become digital cable customers, with a few extra channels for their trouble. Of course we're more concerned with the potential of adding more HDTV over the ten already added recently, but first things first. Expect official word to go out in September, with rates expected to stay the same -- at least until next year.

Though probably not as niche as Rural Free Delivery (RFD HD), World Fishing Network HD still has a pretty narrow audience. That being the case, there's still some logic to pushing the channel in rural parts of America or in regions with nearby fishing outlets. Call us crazy, but New York City is not the first place that comes to find when someone mentions deep sea fishin'. Nevertheless, Verizon has just announced that WFN HD has arrived in the Big Apple on FiOS TV, giving transplants an easy way to get back in touch with their small town roots. There's no word on when the station will hit other FiOS TV areas, but we'd bet it'll be making the rounds soon enough.

We told you that kids these days had it made, didn't we? The latest episode of college students getting more than just ample amounts of study time comes courtesy of RCN, which is delivering triple-play services to student residence rooms at 1760 Third Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The agreement with Educational Housing Services will enable the carrier to offer high-speed internet, digital phone and HD programming to over 1,100 students representing "a variety of institutions of higher learning, including LIM (Laboratory Institute of Merchandising)." U-verse in a University of Houston dorm, RCN here -- what's next, FiOS TV in Corvallis?

For the second week in a row now, we've got quite a few locales getting blanketed (or at least getting set for coverage) by FiOS TV. Verizon has announced that its fiber-based television / high-speed internet services are now available in Covina, West Covina and Sepulveda, California. Furthermore, Washington state is getting even more FiOS TV love by awarding the carrier a video franchise in Woodinville. We wrap this week up with confirmation that said service is finally headed to Newburgh, New York after initially hearing that a deal was in the works last December. We'll see you next week -- here's to hoping your neck of the woods gets covered within the next seven days.

Read - California expansion
Read - Washington expansion
Read - New York expansion

Not quite four months after Time Warner Cable completely and entirely revamped the HD lineup in New York / New Jersey, another big player has entered the Big Apple. NYC residents, meet Verizon. After tons of planning, drawn-out meetings and a bazillion approvals, FiOS TV is now available to order in 108 neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. Better still, the carrier is offering 100 high-definition channels in the area, and if all goes to plan, that number will creep upward even more in the not-too-distant future. Jump on past the break for a (long) list of the communities that can order service today. So, the big question: are any of you NYers making the switch?

Read - Official release
Read - More details

Daktronics has continued to outdo itself again and again since first coming on our radar with its massive Dolphin Stadium high definition scoreboard two years ago, but the company plans to make the New Meadowlands project, opening for the Giants and Jets in 2010, its biggest yet. The $45 million project includes four 103- by 30-foot screens at each corner of the stadium, ensuring Eli Manning can always see his open receivers even while spinning free of numerous would-be tacklers to throw a miracle pass that screws up our sure thing bet...but we digress. The four big screens, plus 28 other large screen displays located around the stadium use the LED-based HD-X technology already in use at other stadiums ensuring high contrast and wide viewing angles, although with that many it's probably not necessary. After the Yankees, Mets and now both football teams we suppose the Nets are just waiting to secure Lebron in '10 before announcing the court will be replaced with an HDTV.

While we've certainly seen more extravagant uses of walls as art canvases, we have all ideas this will be plenty radical in downtown Syracuse, New York. Syracuse University is aiming to add permanent (but not, you know) imagery to a number of walls by "projecting artwork onto some of its most visible areas." The institution is currently asking the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency "for permission to install projector equipment on one of its buildings," and if its wish is granted, the Urban Video Project will be well on its way to becoming a reality. Keep an eye out (not like it'll be hard to miss) for the installation to go live this October.

[Via AboutProjectors]

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

Next time you take a stroll through Times Square, look up, as Toshiba's posted a brand new high definition display at the top of One Times Square Building. The 51.2-foot by 52.5-foot consists of 1280x1248 LEDs controlled by Toshiba's Technovirtual pixel-sharing technology to create "virtual pixels". Whether or not we can figure out how that works, the LEDs display over one billion colors and help cut power consumption, so the display isn't just better looking than the one it replaces but also more energy efficient. We've seen LEDs in other video boards before, but Toshiba claims it's the first to offer modular HDTV screens to the outdoor rental market, and starting today they've got the best product placement possible.

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]

It has been a few months since the Brooklyn / Queens areas of New York had any high-def news pointed at 'em, but Time Warner Cable has quietly announced a few newcomers in the midst of shuffling its lineup around. Beginning on July 23rd, HD Theater will be shifting from slot 718 to 767 (so don't freak out), while Biography HD will launch on 763. Furthermore, Starz HD, Starz Comedy HD, Starz Edge HD and Starz Kids & Family HD will get lit on slots 676, 681, 677 and 678, respectively. For the latest list of local chances, tap the read link and input your zip code. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Thanks, Vin]

Although Binghamton, New York is far from being as blessed as Manhattan in the HD department right now (at least on Time Warner Cable), the carrier is doing everything it can to bring equality to the high-def landscape in the Empire State. Shortly after Disney HD, ABC Family HD and Toon Disney HD surfaced on the EPG, two more channels -- Planet Green HD (830) and Travel Channel HD (837) -- have emerged. As expected, these two are also being delivered via switched digital video (SDV), so you CableCARD users will just have to hang tight for now. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Thanks, Armando]

While Time Warner Cable has been boosting HD lineups in overcrowded areas of New York and New Jersey for a few months now, folks in the less traveled portions of NY have gone without. Granted, it's no onslaught of 50, but we have received word that Disney HD, ABC Family HD and Toon Disney HD have just landed on EPGs in Jamestown, Binghampton, Corning and Elmira, NY (along with surrounding areas). So, we can expect the other 47 soon, right TWC? [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Thanks, Greg]