As reported by NewTeeVee, Verizon is launching FiOS1 in the Washington, D.C. area. This will be the telco’s leap into the content business. Whatever you do, don’t call it a news channel! That was one message made clear, by Verizon spokesperson. While a lot of what is planned for FiOS1 is what been traditionally called news — weather, traffic, local happenings — FiOS1’s plans also call for local sports (college, high school and even Major League Baseball) as well as… wait for it… USER-GENERATED CONTENT, from “trained” citizen video journalists Verizon has drafted and will send out into the streets with videocams, ready to film… not news, we guess.

(It’s just a hunch, but Verizon is probably a bit sensitive about the “news” channel thing since it doesn’t want to sour relationships with real news providers that Verizon has signed up for FiOS programming. Just a hunch!)

“It’s a local information channel,” said Verizon spokesperson Sharon Cohen-Hagar, who we spoke (and emailed) with Thursday afternoon. While Cohen-Hagar didn’t want to comment on our observation (also pointed out by Karl at BroadbandReports) that FiOS1 sounds an awful lot like cable TV local-access programming — the kind of thing that Verizon has lobbied heavily against — she did say that FiOS1 wouldn’t be “a place where someone spends two hours talking about something.” She did say it would offer “local content you can’t get anywhere else.”

And even though it’s not a news channel, FiOS1 is being executive-produced and general-managed by Michelle Webb, a former ABC News (shh!) producer. Cohen-Hagar said the full-time staff for the channel is about 10 or so folks (she didn’t have exact numbers while traveling Thursday), so this isn’t meant to be the next CNN, but just “a way to bring more value to our [FiOS] TV service.”

In case you hadn’t figured, FiOS1 will be Channel 1 on the FiOS TV service in the D.C. area. Hope they launch a similar “non-news” channel in NJ as we do miss Cablevision’s Channel 12 sometimes.

Why was D.C. first? “Where else would you launch your first local channel?” Verizon spokeswoman Sharon Cohen-Hager said. “It’s a huge media market, and we were able to bring the programming together. Of all the markets we’re in, D.C. made a lot of sense.”

Cohen-Hager said Verizon expects to launch one or two similar channels in other markets this year, but she declined to identify them.

FiOS1 provide “Traffic on the 1s” and “Weather on the 5s.” News content will be provided by WUSA9, the Gannett-owned local CBS affiliate.

Verizon’s first original local programming for FiOS1 is a show called Push-Pause, produced in collaboration with HyperLocal News Productions, which features segments by “trained citizen-video journalists.”

The channel also will feature 20 hours of sports programming per week, including some Georgetown University, George Mason University and high-school games. FiOS1 plans to develop a northern-Virginia high-school sports highlights show, Game Day TV, a 30-minute preview of the upcoming games and a wrap-up of the week’s past ones.

Another FiOS1 program, Limbo Local, will let viewers bid on consumer electronics via their mobile phones, with the lowest unique bid at the close of the auction winning the prize. FiOS1 subscribers will also be able to play online, and Verizon Wireless will offer its own version of the game to V CAST subscribers. Prizes will include a 40-inch LCD HDTV and a Blu-ray progressive DVD player.

From Washington Post: FiOS To Launch Washington TV Channel

Verizon Press Release

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