Verizon Communications is raising the price of HD digital-video-recorder service on FiOS TV to $15.99 per month from $12.99 for new orders made on or after July 13, a company spokesman said.
The HD-DVR fee is currently a price edge against Cablevision Systems, the cable operator that has the most exposure to FiOS. Cablevision charges $9.95 per month for DVR service, plus a box and remote rental fee of $6.25, for a total of $16.20. The new fee will be about the same as Cablevision’s.
The change only affects new orders, not existing customers, media-relations director Sharon Cohen-Hagar said.
Verizon also notified FiOS customers that if they fully disconnect service and a technician visit is required, there will be a $74.99 charge, again effective July 13. But FiOS customers can return the equipment free-of-charge at Verizon locations or at United Parcel Service locations using a Verizon prepaid label.
The changes were reported earlier by Engadget.
In other FiOS TV news, the Board of Trustees for the Long Island village of Bayville, N.Y., granted a video franchise to Verizon Monday night.
The telco also announced that FiOS TV is now available to some 32,000 households in Chalfont, Ivyland and Hilltown in Bucks County and in Hatboro and Lower Merion in Montgomery County, Pa.
The Bayville franchise brings Verizon’s total in New York state to 41, while the launches in the Greater Philadelphia area mean FiOS TV is now available to nearly 224,000 Pennsylvania households.
And Verizon is now taking orders for FiOS TV in the Westchester County communities of White Plains and Rye Brook; the Rockland County village of Airmont; and the Long Island village of Williston Park, all in New York.
