Verizon cable license voted

Selectmen Tuesday approved a cable television license for Verizon to become Bedford’s second cable provider. The board granted approval because the town’s desire for cable competition outweighed any reservations about the company’s ability to meet certain conditions of the license.

Richard Colón, Verizon’s Regional Director of External Affairs, said, “We are happy with the board’s decision. There’s no question about it being the right decision for the citizens of Bedford. We understand some of the concerns raised at the meeting and will work very hard to make sure they are addressed in a timely way.”

The Bedford Board of Selectmen, the town’s Issuing Authority over cable-related matters, granted the license after a public hearing to assess Verizon’s qualifications as a cable provider was held.

Verizon has invested millions of dollars in Bedford, has constructed a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) plant in 2005, and provides the town Internet and telephone services using the fiberoptics system known as FiOS. Also, there are hundreds of service representatives in the area, according to Colón.

He said FiOS is the “most sophisticated [fiberoptics network] in the nation” and not only are there plans to quadruple FiOS’ speed, but the company has the ability to troubleshoot problems before they affect customers.

“When given a license in a community, we definitely see an increase in FiOS customers,” he said.

For competitive reasons, Verizon does not disclose its number of subscribers on a local level, but recently received their millionth FiOS customer nationally, and provides cable services to about half a million customers.

Colón said, “All indications are that our customers are very, very interested in this fiber technology for a number of reasons.”

According to Colón, Verizon, which brings fiberoptics directly to an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) on the side of a customer’s house, is the only major telecommunications provider in the country to offer such a service. 

 Comcast, Bedford’s incumbent cable provider, runs its fiberoptics to a neighborhood node. 

Ron Cordes, president of Bedford Community Access Television’s (BCAT) board of directors, said FTTP affords Verizon customers higher bandwidth and subsequently more channels. 

“I’m looking forward to weighing my options as a consumer,” he said. “I think it’s great. I think competition is what will improve service to the people of the town. Competition is always a healthy thing.”

In a letter to Angelo Colao, chairman of the Bedford Board of Selectmen, dated June 22, Bedford Cable Television Committee Chairman Jim Shea expressed the committee’s concern with some of the contract’s provisions, specifically Verizon’s proposed installment plan for making capital payments, and their ability to carry PEG (public education and government) access channels in a timely manner.

Ultimately, the committee endorsed the license. Shea wrote, “Despite certain reservations … the Committee believes that the Verizon Draft License is generally fair and that it will yield the benefit of choice to Bedford subscribers.”

Kimberly Miot, executive director of BCAT said, “From BCAT’s point of view, PEG access programming is vital to the community. It’s advantageous for Verizon to carry our channels and I hope they see the value in that.” 

Verizon, being a national company, has existing contracts mandating the designation of some channels, therefore may not be able to employ the listings of Bedford PEG channels (8,9,10) presently implemented by Comcast.

   “That’s unfortunate,” said Cordes. “It’s going to cause a little bit of a hassle for us. We negotiated pretty hard to get three consecutive channels with Comcast.

   “There’s no technical problem with it, it’s just easier for the consumer to know where the three channels are,” he said. “We are not going to go to great lengths to accommodate their [Verizon’s] channels.”

Additionally, Cordes reiterated a concern expressed by the selectmen last Tuesday regarding Verizon’s endorsement of franchising bills aimed at streamlining the cable franchising process.

“What they’re trying to pass at the state level is a terrible piece of legislation, and I think it would be very detrimental to the consumers, in spite of what Verizon says,” he said.

Among Cordes’ primary concerns is that cable companies could potentially “bail out of all the benefits to the towns, and that would be the end of public access.”

According to Colón, there is “a lot of misinformation about the bill.”

He said the bill is designed to change the timeframe for granting licenses for new competitors in the cable television industry, and provides for no change in franchise fees, PEG interconnection nor the authority of municipalities to govern the public rights of way.

“Any suggestion that this bill would allow Verizon to cherry pick is completely without basis,” he added. 

Furthermore, existing licenses would be grandfathered, said Colón.