FiOS to expand sports offerings, explore cable channels

Verizon's FiOS TV will expand its wireless mobile service with more real-time sports games and could seek to create local cable channels around the country to connect with its subscribers, the company's top programming executive, Terry Denson, said in an interview.

"There are no near-term plans for national content plays," said Denson, FiOS TV vice president of content and programming. He had been a cable executive with Insight, which has operations in the Midwest.

Verizon has created a local channel in the Washington area and Denson described the content as "feel-good."

Verizon has 15,000 "titles" available to its FiOS TV customers each month, vastly more than the 2,000 titles it offered in 2004 when the FiOS TV service was launched, he said.

Almost all of the 15,000 titles, some of which include how-to and other short-form videos, are viewed at least once a month.

FiOS TV has about 2.2 million TV subscribers and is expected to begin its first service in Philadelphia later this year, competing with cable giant Comcast Corp.