Verizon has completed the rollout of an enhanced version of its Interactive Media Guide for FiOS Quantum TV customers that features a fresh look and a set of new features.

Verizon began to roll out the new IMG on January 26 in Philadelphia, Buffalo and Syracuse, and completed the deployment on Tuesday (February 10).

The enhancements, for FiOS Quantum TV, a new platform that’s anchored by a souped up whole-home HD-DVR made by Arris, feature a fresh color scheme with a black background that’s designed to make the on-screen graphics pop. In a nod to customers who like to binge out on TV series, the new guide also includes an episodic bundling component that lets customers buy a full TV season at once.

Among other additions, Quantum TV subs in New York and New Jersey will start to see the FiOS 1 News Channel as the welcome screen when they flip on the TV, though customers can disable that by altering the guide settings.

Verizon ended 2014 with 5.64 million FiOS TV subs, a figure that will change dramatically once the telco wraps up a proposed deal to sell wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas that include properties that currently provide 1.2 million FiOS video connections, to Frontier Communications.

In response to a challenge posed by the parent company of Cablevision Systems, the National Advertising Division said it has determined that Verizon Communications has “provided a reasonable basis” for TV ads claiming that FiOS Quantum TV subs can do things like record up to 12 shows at once, watch TV “on the go,” store up to 200 hours of HD and watch recordings in other rooms.

The NAB said Cablevision contended that TV ads from Verizon entitled “Why Not?” that feature comedian Craig Robinson made false and misleading comparisons between Verizon’s FiOS TV and the MSO’s Optimum TV platform. In the ad (watch a 30-second version here), Robinson tells his young nephew that his provider “can’t” record a certain number of shows at one time, save “every single cartoon,” and pause what he’s watching in one room and resume it in another room.

FiOS Quantum TV is Verizon’s new top-end video platform. Introduced last April, FiOS Quantum TV is anchored by the Arris-made Verizon Media Server, a whole-home DVR with six tuners and 1 terabyte of DVR storage that can be paired up with client devices on the home network. The Premium version of FiOS Quantum TV ties together the functions of two VMSs, giving customers access to 12 tuners and enough storage to record 200 hours of HD video, according to Verizon. The Premium-level set-up allows customers to watch or record up to ten shows at once. The Enhanced FiOS Quantum TV tier uses just one VMS. FiOS Quantum TV is matching up with Cablevision’s Multi-Room DVR, a network-based offering that, following an upgrade last April, is now capable of recording up to 15 shows at the same time.

The NAD held that the issue in this case was whether the net impression of the challenged commercials, taken as a whole, reasonably conveyed, as Cablevision argued, a comparative superiority message regarding the DVR service offered by FiOS Quantum TV and providers of other DVR or related services such as Cablevision.

“With respect to the 30-second commercial, NAD determined that consumers were unlikely to take away a comparative superiority message that Verizon offers features that other DVR service providers or DVR providers cannot provide,” the NAD said, but recommended that  Verizon discontinue the “reasonably conveyed (but inaccurate) message that with FiOS Quantum TV DVR service a subscriber can ‘save every cartoon’.”

For its part, Verizon stated to the NAD that it “respectfully disagrees” that humorous statements made by Robinson “would communicate anything about Cablevision's services,” or that any reasonable consumer would take the cartoon-recording claim literally, but said it would consider the NAD’s recommendations in future ads. 

Update: Cablevision issued this statement: “Verizon has not been truthful to consumers in its advertisements, and Cablevision is gratified that the NAD recommended that Verizon discontinue its latest false and misleading claims. Cablevision’s DVR product records 15 shows simultaneously, which is more than Verizon’s DVR product, and it was wrong for Verizon to claim otherwise in its ads. In addition, Cablevision is pleased that the NAD has recommended that Verizon discontinue certain claims that overstate their DVR product capabilities.”

Administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. 

Verizon Communications said it has completed the rollout of its new FiOS Quantum TV in New York and New Jersey, along with Greewich, Conn., moves that expand the reach of a new video platform that is highlighted by a whole-home DVR set-up that can pack 12 tuners and record as many as 10 shows at once.

The latest deployment follows the recent debut of FiOS Quantum TV in Southern California, and earlier rollouts in Dallas; Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, Pa.; Delaware; Tampa, Fla.; and Maryland. Verizon said today's debut in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut completes the telco's national rollout in FiOS wireline service areas, which consists of 12 states and Washington, D.C.

The centerpiece of Verizon’s FiOS Quantum TV tiers is the Arris-made Verizon Media Server, a whole-home DVR with six tuners and 1 terabyte of DVR storage that can be paired up with client devices on the home network. The Premium version of FiOS Quantum TV ties together the functions of two VMSs, giving customers access to 12 tuners and enough storage to record 200 hours of HD video. The Premium-level set-up allows customers to watch or record up to ten shows at once. The Enhanced FiOS Quantum TV tier uses just one VMS.

According to current pricing, the Premium tier runs an extra $32 per month, while Enhanced goes for $22 per month. Monthly lease fees vary based on the number of TVs supported in the subscriber’s home.

The capabilities of the new FiOS tier has set off an arms race of sorts when it comes to DVR recording capabilities. Soon after Verizon introduced FiOS Quantum TV, cable rival Cablevision Systems Corp. pushed ahead with an upgrade that enables its network-based DVR to record up to 15 shows at the same time.

Among other pay-TV providers, Dish Network’s Hopper HD-DVR with the Super Joey can record up to eight shows at once,  while DirecTV’s Genie whole-home DVR and Comcast’s X1 platform each can currently record up to five shows at the same time.

Verizon added 57,000 FiOS Video connections in the first quarter of 2014, versus 169,000 in the year-ago period, extending its total in the category to 5.3 million subs.

Verizon Communications’ new top-shelf FiOS Quantum TV packages debuted this week in several cities and towns in Southern California, including Cerritos, Culver City, Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Oxnard, and Palm Desert, among others.

Verizon’s FiOS Quantum TV tiers are centered by the Arris-made Verizon Media Server, a whole-home DVR with six tuners and 1 terabyte of DVR storage that can be paired up with client devices on the home network. The Premium version of FiOS Quantum TV ties together the functions of two VMSs, giving customers access to 12 tuners and enough storage to record 200 hours of HD video. The Premium-level set-up allows customers to watch or record up to ten shows at once. The Enhanced FiOS Quantum TV tier uses just one VMS.

According to current pricing, the Premium tier runs an extra $32 per month, while Enhanced goes for $22 per month. Monthly lease fees vary based on the number of TVs supported in the subscriber’s home.

Following the debut of FiOS Quantum TV in Dallas and Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pa. in early April, Verizon has also rolled out the new tiers in Philadelphia; Delaware; Tampa; Maryland; Virginia; and Washington, D.C. Verizon expects to phase it into all other FiOS TV markets over the next few months.

Verizon added 57,000 FiOS Video connections in the first quarter of 2014, versus 169,000 in the year-ago period, extending its total in the category to 5.3 million subs.

Verizon Communications’ new high-end FiOS Quantum TV tiers took another leap this week as the telco launched them in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

The new Quantum TV tiers feature the Arris-made Verizon Media Server, a whole-home DVR that’s outfitted with six tuners and 1 terabyte of DVR storage that can be paired up with client devices on the home’s coax network. The Premium setup bundles together the functions of two VMSs, giving customers access to 12 tuners and the ability to record a dozen shows at once, and enough storage to record 200 hours of HD video.

FiOS TV currently is available to more than 2.6 million households and businesses in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Verizon said. Verizon ended the first quarter of 2014 with 5.3 milion FiOS video subscribers and 6.2 million FiOS Internet customers.

Verizon debuted its FiOS Quantum TV offerings last month in Dallas and Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, Pa., and more recently in Philadelphia, Delaware, and Tampa. Verizon expects to phase it into all other FiOS TV markets over the next few months.

“I’ll see your ability to record 12 shows at once, and raise you three more,” seems to be the message Cablevision Systems is delivering to Verizon Communications following an upgrade that allows customers to record up to 15 shows at once via the cable operator’s network-based DVR. 

Cablevision’s product, branded as the “Multi-Room DVR,” previously allowed customers to record 10 shows simultaneously. The upgrades enter play about a week after Verizon launched  two new “FiOS Quantum TV” packages that feature souped-up whole-home media servers, including a Premium option that allows customers to record up to a dozen shows at once and provides 2 terabytes of storage – enough to record about 200 hours of HD video.

Cablevision’s upgrade also preempts the new level of DVR competition coming from Verizon, as the telco has so far limited the availably of FiOS Quantum TV to the Dallas, Texas, and Harrisburg, Pa., markets, but plans to extend it to all other FiOS TV markets over the next three months.

Verizon’s Quantum FiOS TV tiers, which supports 1 TB or 2 TB, still has the edge on storage. Cablevision’s network-based DVR product currently offers enough for customers to store up to 300 hours in standard-definition, and 75 hours in HD.

According to Cablevision, the upgraded capabilities were introduced Monday (April 7) and was added automatically to the service, which currently runs on digital set-top boxes (CableCARD devices are not currently compatible with Cablevision’s Multi-Room DVR).

Despite the upgraded recording capabilities, the monthly price for the MSO’s upgraded Multi-Room DVR remains at $12.95 per month. Multi-Room DVR customers also have the ability to manage the DVR at Optimum.net or the Optimum App.

Check this week’s issue of Multichannel News for a deeper look at the pay-TV industry’s recent spate of DVR one-upsmanship (subscription required).