Service providers FiOS and AT&T U-verse were top recommendations for bundled telecom services, based on a survey of 70,000 Consumer Reports readers.

The next best choice for many households for bundled services is a highly rated cable company including Cox, Cablevision, or Bright House Networks if they are in your area. If television service is a priority and Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse aren't available in your area, satellite providers DirecTV or Dish Network received above average survey scores. Their TV service is offered in hybrid bundles with DSL and phone service from some telephone providers

The issue also features tips on how to cut your telecom bills. The full story appears in the May issue of Consumer Reports, which goes on sale April 5th. The reports are also available to subscribers of www.ConsumerReports.org.

Verizon will launch ESPN 3D on April 5, in time to bring sports fans outstanding 3D content including the Masters Golf Tournament and the NBA playoffs. ESPN 3D, the industry’s first 3D network, will be viewable for FiOS TV customers who have a 3D television set, 3D glasses and a high-definition set-top box. The channel will be included at no extra charge for FiOS TV customers who subscribe to the Ultimate HD package, or on its own for $9.99 per month.

“The launch of ESPN 3D on FiOS TV marks an exciting addition for our customers, giving them 24/7 access to 3D programming for the first time,” said Terry Denson, vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Verizon. “We continue to enhance our FiOS TV offering, with interactive applications, online video programming, and more and more 3D programming. And with the addition of ESPN 3D, our customers will get exciting sports programming that includes the Masters and NBA playoffs – all in 3D.”

As part of a wide-ranging agreement between the Walt Disney Company and Verizon, customers will be able to watch ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater live online beginning Thursday (Feb. 17). To access the online programming, Verizon customers must subscribe to FiOS TV.

The online rights to the ESPN networks are part of a broader agreement, which also includes the full suite of cable services from the Walt Disney Company: ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD and the soon-to-be-launched Disney Junior, as well as retransmission consent for local ABC broadcast stations.

FiOS TV customers will be able to watch ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater live on their personal computers or laptops – at home or away – using any broadband connection. Buzzer Beater, which features live cut-ins and highlights from numerous top college basketball games during each Wednesday and Saturday of the college basketball season, is normally only available to FiOS TV customers who subscribe to the Extreme HD or Ultimate HD TV packages; but it is currently accessible to Prime TV package customers through a free preview.

continues to add customers served by its FiOS fiber-optic network in the U.S., and revenues continued to increase for strategic enterprise services worldwide. In the fourth quarter of 2010:

• Verizon added 197,000 net new FiOS Internet customers and 182,000 net new customers. By year-end, Verizon had 4.1 million FiOS Internet and 3.5 million FiOS TV customers.
• FiOS Internet penetration (customers as a percentage of potential customers) was 31.9 percent by the end of the quarter, with the product available for sale to 12.8 million premises. This compares with 28.3 percent and 11.6 million, respectively, at year-end 2009.
• More after the jump.

continues to create the future of TV by bringing to consumers more advanced mobile-entertainment capabilities on more devices. customers who also have Apple's iPad can now download and use Verizon's free FiOS Mobile application, which lets customers manage their DVRs and browse FiOS video-on-demand offers remotely, plus turn their iPad into a remote control for their HD set-top boxes.

Verizon started offering customers the ability to use their mobile device as a remote control earlier this year. The feature is available on more than 40 mobile devices running Android software v.2.1 or above or that support Wi-Fi. It is also available on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Verizon and Time Warner Cable have reached an agreement to provide Verizon's FiOS TV customers in upstate New York with access to additional Syracuse University football and men's basketball games.

SU football and men's basketball games that are carried on Time Warner Cable Sports will now be made available to Verizon to provide to its central New York FiOS TV customers. In addition, Syracuse football and men's basketball games that air on Time Warner Cable SportsNet Buffalo will be available to FiOS TV subscribers in western New York. The games will be available on Channel 1 for FiOS TV customers.

Tonight’s preseason game featuring the New York Giants vs. The New England Patriots will go down in history as the first ever 3D broadcast of an NFL game on television. Verizon FiOS is producing and broadcasting the game using Chyron’s HyperX3 technology to literally bring the game to life, exclusively for FiOS TV customers.

Chyron’s revolutionary on-air graphics are the backbone of the FiOS stereoscopic experience and will allow customers in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to see every graphic pop through the screen into their living rooms. This marks the ninth live 3D sports event powered by Chyron. Find out others after the jump!

Verizon's FiOS TV customers are now getting more online video content from Time Warner Inc. Once again, the two companies are joining forces to give consumers more programming from the TV channels they love - wherever and whenever they want it.

Following the online launch in June of two other Time Warner channels, Turner's TNT and TBS, three more channels are joining Verizon's growing FiOS TV Online service: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and truTV. Like TNT and TBS, these new channels will feature a selection of programming available on FiOS TV Online within 24 hours after an episode airs on live television

Turner Broadcasting System announces a new scalable online video solution as part of its agreement with Verizon to launch TBS and TNT as Turner's initial participating networks with FiOS TV Online. That programming is now available with the help of both Adobe Systems Incorporated and FreeWheel.

Adobe provides a secure, seamless and cost efficient method of allowing distributors and programmers to create an endorsed authentication capability that leverages Adobe Flash technology and reach across multiple platforms, devices and content. FreeWheel provides an innovative, flexible ad serving solution to monetize content beyond C3 on programmer sites or distributor portals and complements Nielsen measurement of C3 video (linear, online, VOD) beginning in September. Together, these partners provide a user friendly authentication model that leverages industry standard technologies to allow the industry to move beyond trials and tests to full scale deployment.

SnagFilms announces a landmark expansion in its distribution of nonfiction films by bringing its library to a suite of new platforms, including the creation of VOD offerings with Comcast, the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products, and with Verizon FiOS TV, the converged communications platform. Additionally, SnagFilms' wholly-owned indieWIRE (which focuses on the independent film sector's news and reviews, and is this month celebrating its 14th birthday) expanded its roster of leading film voices, announcing a new blog with legendary director Peter Bogdanovich.

Verizon is offering FiOS TV customers another opportunity to see the latest in 3D programming, with a new video-on-demand offering from WealthTV. The premier luxury lifestyle and entertainment network is making an episode of its series on classic cars, "Wealth on Wheels Classic," available in 3D - only for Verizon's FiOS TV subscribers.

WealthTV's 3D VOD program is available to all FiOS TV customers across the country who have a 3D television set, 3D glasses and a high-definition set-top box. FiOS TV customers can find the 3D "Wealth on Wheels" episode in the "High Definition" VOD folder, under HD 3D. The episode features the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, Calif., and highlights more than a dozen priceless classic automobiles and the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. The episode was produced by WealthTV, using the latest stereoscopic technology to further enhance the viewing experience.

Residents of Duxbury, of Massachusetts are a major step closer to having a real choice for their cable television services, thanks to a newly approved agreement authorizing Verizon to offer its FiOS TV service via the most advanced all-digital, fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes.

The Duxbury Board of Selectmen on Monday (June 14) granted a cable franchise to Verizon, authorizing video choice for thousands of households here.

The board's authorization brings to 108 the total number of Massachusetts communities where Verizon's FiOS TV is or will soon be available.

Residents of Foxborough, Massachusetts are a major step closer to having a real choice for their cable television services, thanks to a newly approved agreement authorizing Verizon to offer its FiOS TV service via the most advanced all-digital, fiber-optic network straight to customers' homes.

The Foxborough Board of Selectmen on May 25 granted a cable franchise to Verizon, authorizing video choice for thousands of households here. The board's authorization brings to 107 the total number of Massachusetts communities where Verizon's FiOS TV is or will soon be available.

Frontier Communication announces that its pending acquisition of local Verizon Communications operations in 14 states has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission. The transaction has now received all necessary regulatory approvals, including regulatory approval in nine states and approval to transfer control of local cable TV franchises to Frontier for the FiOS markets in Oregon and Washington. Frontier and Verizon are completing the other conditions to closing and expect the transaction to close on July 1, 2010.

VerizonFiOS TV subscribers, providing access to hundreds of stations nationwide and the ability to stream music from the PC to the TV.

Verizon's Internet Radio and Internet Videos services are both accessible via Media Manager, which already allows subscribers to search and view on their TVs user-generated content from online video-sharing sites blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh. In addition, Verizon has expanded the Media Manager service, making it available to all FiOS TV HD customers. Previously, it was available only to DVR customers. The availability of YouTube, the world's most popular online video community, will add thousands more daily videos to the service.