said by jmn1207 :

Since the transition will have no direct impact on their FiOS TV service, it might be beneficial to have a flood of people looking for TV service as a result. The transition might potentially create more customers for their TV service, which needs no development time before deployment, as it already exists.

said by jmn1207 :

I do realize that a greater percentage of people in rural areas most likely use OTA for their TV. But there are simply way more people living in heavily populated areas that use OTA. There are typically many more channels, and the population is obviously much greater.

Keeping the transition date help Verizon in more ways than just allowing them to go forward with their LTE testing.