Verizon's FiOS TV expansion team evidently took the week off, but the golfers sure showed up en masse. The Golf Channel HD landed in four separate FiOS markets, while Verizon's video-on-demand is expecting to keep lovebirds entertained today should they choose to "stay in." We'll see you right back here next -- here's hoping some good news hits your neighborhood within the next seven days.

Read - Golf Channel HD in Richmond, Hampton Roads
Read - Golf Channel HD in Maryland, Virginia
Read - Golf Channel HD in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware
Read - Golf Channel HD in New York Metro Area
Read - Cupid Home-Delivers Romance on Valentine's Day With Help From Verizon's FiOS TV Video on Demand

AT&T joined up with DirecTV for TV services months ago, but the partnership is now retail-official, and AT&T reps should be fully versed in how bundling services can save you some dough. What's really interesting, however, is the "quad-play" that the new partnership is offering over cable by adding wireless service to the TV/phone/internet trio. In this arms race that threatens to catch up the blades-per-razor contest, expect to see connections between content on your TV, PC and cell phone in the future (assuming you're in a market that receives all four services). Sounds like echoes of Homezone all over again, doesn't it? Of course, cable has similar plans in the works, especially cable companies that picked up some space from last year's 700MHz auction; but still, a first is a first.

[Thanks, Vanbrothers]

Read - AT&T selling DirecTV
Read - AT&T/DirecTV quad-play

If you can't quite afford a ticket to attend Super Bowl XLIII, you may still be able to get close enough to feel the noise. If so, there's a decent chance you'll be enjoying the action nearby courtesy of Verizon. This year, said operator has become the first ever "non-partner" vendor allowed in the NFL Experience, as it was selected to wire the Tampa Convention Center and several affiliated hotels in the area with its FiOS fibers. All told, the outfit laid some 14,000 years of fiber in downtown Tampa is preparation for the big game, and FiOS TV will power 143 TVs throughout five downtown venues. Additionally, 116 FiOS TV set-top-boxes were installed along with 138 data lines, though there's no telling if any of this will remain after fans pack up and head home. More details are just past the break.

This week, Verizon was busy adding HD channels to the locales it already served rather than deploying FiOS in new places. That aside, the biggest news of the week is undoubtedly that involving the pullout form Wilmington, Delaware. If you'll recall, we heard back in November of 2008 that Verizon was gunning to get FiOS TV into The First State, but just yesterday it issued a notice declaring that "after months of negotiations and numerous concessions by Verizon, the parties could not agree on terms that would enable Verizon to compete effectively and serve customers in Wilmington, something we have been able to do successfully with more than 1,300 franchising authorities across the country." Ouch. For the rest of this week's FiOS news, you know where to look.

Read - Wilmington, Delaware withdrawal
Read - 14 new HD channels in Western New York
Read - 12 new HD channels in Portland, Oregon
Read - 16 new HD channels in Seattle, Washington

AT&T's overall Q4 earnings may have dipped 23.6 percent, but its U-verse unit has a few things going for it. Aside from passing the coveted one million mark in customers during the course of last quarter, the company also added a best-ever 264,000 U-verse TV customers. Moreover, the build currently reaches some 17 million living units, but we are told a bit of unfortunate news in terms of future expansion. Remember those plans to "more than double U-verse TV availability by 2010?" Yeah, that has already slipped into 2011, barely a month after the 2010 date was frantically shot out. Alright Verizon, time to get your deployment teams out of Massachusetts and make AT&T regret this, wouldn't you say?

It's hard to know how many other pay-TV providers could say this very same thing but are simply choosing not to brag, but AT&T's holding nothing back in its latest release. The operator has proudly come forward and proclaimed that 100 percent of its U-verse TV receivers meet or exceed Energy Star efficiency requirements, and all new Motorola and Cisco set-top-boxes will boast the accompanying Energy Star label. Not trying to stroke your ego or anything, AT&T, but way to be green.

It's a lazy week in FiOS TV land, with just two relatively small snippets to discuss. Well, unless you live in Amherst, New York or Hanover, Massachusetts. The former city managed to land its very own FiOS store where prospective buyers can meander in, test drive the fiber-based TV service and get setup in one fell swoop. As for the latter, you've probably already guessed (correctly, might we add) that The Bay State has claimed yet another FiOS TV town, with thousands of residents in Hanover now able to order up the service. Seriously, the Verizon-Massachusetts love fest has to stop. It just has to.

Read - Amherst store
Read - Hanover expansion

Neither Verizon nor Bright House Networks can provide those oh-so-snazzy interactive mix channels like DirecTV and DISH Network can, but what they -- along with a few other providers, most likely -- can do is provide free access to HBO for a day. This Sunday (that's tomorrow for the continental US, the day after tomorrow for Point Hope, AK, Kihei, HI and surrounding areas), FiOS TV and BHN digital TV subscribers will all be given a fee-free look at HBO's exclusive live broadcast of the "We Are One: The Obama Inauguration Celebration" concert from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Better still, both carriers are providing HD feeds for those looking for the best in clarity (read: you), and those scouting the full lineup of artists and speakers can find just that in the links below. Trust us, this is like a hundred million times better than trying to get within 50 miles of The District this weekend.

Read - Verizon announcement
Read - Bright House Networks announcement
Read - Time Warner Cable announcement

Update: Turns out, HBO's letting anyone with a STB tune in gratis. Classy move.

Verizon hasn't been too terribly busy on the FiOS TV expansion front since the new year began, but there have still been a few rollout plans announced for a handful of key communities. Since we last spoke prior to the onset of CES, the carrier has stretched its fiber-based programming service to residents and businesses in Justin, Northlake and unincorporated parts of Denton County (all in North Texas). Furthermore, new sections of Manhattan and Queens now have access, along with three more Massachusetts communities (Dover, Leominster and Norwell). We get the feeling the post-Christmas hangover will be fully extinguished by the end of next week, so hopefully we'll have an even larger list to run through seven days from now.

Read - North Texas expansion
Read - New York expansion
Read - Massachusetts expansion

Just days after AT&T announced that NHL Network HD would be gliding over to U-verse TV, in flies a report stating that Viacom and AT&T have linked up on a sweet new deal. Said agreement will enable seven new networks to join the U-verse TV EPG: MTV HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD, BET HD, Nickelodeon HD, Comedy Central HD and Spike HD. The deal also "renews carriage of the MTVN and BETN channels and VOD content featured on AT&T U-verse TV, and provides for carriage of new international channels, including MTV India, later this year." Now, let's wait and see if those monthly rates creep up any after the fact.

We needn't reiterate that Verizon is madly in love with the northeast, but just in case you had any doubts, we'll point you to these two network expansion projects. The operator responsible for bringing FiOS TV to select communities has just completed a $600 million enhancement program in the Bay State while sealing up a similar deal for $100 million in Rhode Island. The projects enabled it to bring FiOS TV service to another 29 and 12 communities in each respective state, and it also delivered high-speed internet and expanded wireless coverage to more areas in both regions. And with that, we fully expect Verizon to start FiOS TV rollouts in the southeast and central US -- right Verizon? Right?

Read - Rhode Island expansion
Read - Massachusetts expansion

Go 'head, Adrian -- brush your shoulders off. In a day where politicians are allowed to make and break promises with no real repercussions, the Washington, D.C. mayor deserves a hearty round of applause. After suggesting last May that FiOS would be landing in the District by early 2009, we're now informed that he has signed a bill authorizing the carrier to implement its fiber-based services in the region. Adrian M. Fenty has signed legislation into law that will give Verizon the ability to make FiOS TV available throughout DC over the next nine years, with the first residents able to order service within the next dozen months. Sure, there's a hoop or two more to jump through before this is all set in stone, but it's probably close enough to done to start celebrating.

FiOS TV lovers who enjoy dipping into CBS' stash of on-demand content are sure to love this. The aforesaid network and Verizon have just signed long-term retransmission-consent and program-carriage agreements that will give the operator VOD access to hit shows such as CSI and Survivor along with mobile access to select programs via V CAST. The so-called "broadened and extended" rights do not appear to include Showtime content, but they do include rights for high-definition versions of the material that the deal encompasses. And really, that's all you care about, right?

Verizon's FiOS TV may still be trailing DirecTV / DISH Network in total high-def channels, but the century mark ain't nothing to scoff at. The operator has recently announced that it's offering up at least 100 HD channels in every single one of its markets, though it didn't mention how soon it planned on infiltrating the vast majority of the country that is still operating sans FiOS TV service. We know it's important to look after your current customers, but the real revenue is in those consumers you've yet to hook. Keep those expansions coming, okay Verizon?

During the chaos that was CES, AT&T saw fit to string its U-verse services to two new locales in the Golden State. Starting now, select homes in the Salinas and Monterey areas have access to U-verse high-speed internet, U-verse Voice and U-verse TV, though exact neighborhoods weren't mentioned. You know what that means -- get on the horn and see if your address is covered.