Verizon Rolls With Video

Verizon's (VZ Quote) strong TV and wireless gains still can't outpace erosion of its core phone business.

The New York phone giant posted in-line first-quarter financial results and impressive growth in its red-hot Verizon Wireless venture with Vodafone (VOD Quote). And the company's costly fiber optic expansion effort is getting less expensive, while new TV subscribers are coming on board faster than expected.

But the main phone business saw its fourth-straight quarter of increased customer defections. In the first quarter, Verizon lost 925,000 lines from year-end levels -- meaning it has lost 7.9% of the lines it had at March 31, 2006. The cancellation rate is up from 7.6% in the fourth quarter and 6.9% a year ago.

Verizon says about 100,000 of those latest-quarter lost customers were enrolled with the MCI consumer phone service unit, which has been winding down for the past three years. ...