Pittsburgh Clears Way For FiOS TV

Verizon's 10-Year Franchise Agreement Subject To City Council Approval

Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 7/6/2009 4:28:31 PM

Verizon Communications reached a tentative agreement with the city of Pittsburgh for a 10-year cable TV franchise agreement that would let the telco compete with Comcast.

The 10-year agreement is subject to the approval of City Council and the recommendation of the city's Cable Advisory Board.

"I am very pleased that the city and Verizon have reached an agreement that will pave the way for cable competition in Pittsburgh," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a statement. "For the first time in the city's history, Pittsburgh residents will have a choice in their cable provider."

Under the terms of the agreement, Verizon will deploy cable service throughout the entire city within six years. In the first phase, FiOS TV is to be deployed to at least 50% of the city within three years of the effective date of the agreement.

Comcast's 10-year franchise agreement with the city expires at the end of 2009. Verizon will pay 5% of gross revenue to Pittsburgh, the same franchise fee Comcast pays.

Verizon has offered FiOS TV service in several Pittsburgh suburbs since the fall of 2007.

Pittsburgh's proposed agreement with Verizon includes customer-service standards, such as credits for service outages, time frames for installation and service appointments, reporting requirements and customer-complaint procedures.

Under the agreement, Verizon will provide the city with a private fiber-optic network for its public safety communications. In addition, the telco will provide funding for the city's Cable Bureau, which produces programming for two government channels, as well as Pittsburgh Community Television, the administrator for the city's public-access channel. Verizon also has agreed to carry two additional PEG channels, one of which will be used as an educational channel.

According to the mayor's office, legislation for approval of the cable franchise agreement is expected to be introduced in the Pittsburgh City Council on July 7.

Talkback

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• Today the City Council for Pittsburgh, PA will vote on a proposed Cable TV franchise agreement submitted by Verizon to compete with Comcast for the same market.
  
  The proposal will require Verizon to build out 50% of the city within 3 years with the remaining coverage with 6 years. It seems on the surface to be a standard contract and with Comcast's history of due-diligence, it would have to be on a level playing field. I certainly expect the city to approve the contract.
  
  While Verizon is already offering service to the suburbs, it seems like a natural progression to expand it's coverage area into Pittsburgh. Comcast, on the other hand, has plenty of time to fine-tune it's services and highlight why it is the best provider of the two.
  
  The bottom line is that competition is good for the marketplace, and the consumer should emerge a winner in the battle to come.

  
  Leonard Kevin Grace - 7/10/2009 11:17:15 AM EDT
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