Verizon enters cable picture Negotiating fees to be 3d provider
By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent
Newton residents could be the winners if a looming three-way battle for their cable TV dollars pushes down rates.
Verizon is seeking a cable franchise from the city, which is already served by Comcast and RCN.
But first the telecommunications giant and the city have to agree on fees to support local-access programming and customer service standards.
"We have some requirements that other providers fulfill," said Jeremy Solomon, the city spokesman. "We are asking Verizon to fulfill those same requirements. If they meet them or surpass them, we'll consider their application."
A spokesman for Verizon, the corporate descendant of New England Telephone, said the company is committed to local access programming and providing competitive customer service in Newton, but working out the details takes time.
"We think the negotiations are very much on track," Verizon spokesman John Hoey said Monday. The company is scheduled to meet with city officials again next month.
If granted the franchise in Newton, Verizon would vie for an estimated
25,000 customers, according to Theresa Park, telecommunications specialist in the city's Department of Planning and Development. Comcast has 80 percent of the cable market, the city says.Newton is one of more than 30 communities in Massachusetts where Verizon is trying to offer telephone, high-speed Internet, and television services over a fiber-optic network, called FiOS, that it touts as being faster than the cable companies' equipment. The rollout appears to be taking longer than expected.
A year ago, Verizon announced Holliston, Hopkinton, Lexington, Lincoln, Natick, Sherborn, and Westborough, along with Newton, as among the local targeted communities.