Verizon Files for Statewide Video Franchise in New Jersey

Hoping to take advantage of a new video law, Verizon Communications Inc. on Thursday filed an application with regulators in New Jersey for a statewide franchise to provide its FiOS package.

Verizon's filing comes 90 days after Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed the Cable Choice and Competition Act. The new streamlined process allows existing cablecos and new providers to go directly to the state when filing for a video-franchise agreement.

If the Board of Public Utilities, the cable franchising authority in New Jersey, gives its approval, Verizon expects to begin offering television service to some communities in the state in the second half of December. The state group must act on the application within 45 days.

In most all cases, states require video service providers to apply for franchises in each city and town they wish to serve -- a time-consuming process for new entrants, Verizon and others have steadfastly argued.

“We filed about 100 applications with communities earlier this year,” said a Verizon spokesman. “Under the old law we would have been lucky to have 12 approved by yearend. This law should save us a great deal of time.”

In the application, Verizon is seeking authorization to offer its FiOS TV to consumers in 316 communities in New Jersey, with more to come. The initial filing covers 2.1 million households, or 70 percent of the homes in the state.

"This new law has, in effect, signaled to Verizon that New Jersey eagerly wants real competition in the video marketplace and all of the benefits associated with it," said Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey. "We have an aggressive product rollout schedule planned."

Verizon has sped up the construction of its network in the state because of the new law.

The company said it had 118,000 FiOS TV customers at the end of the third quarter, after less than a year in most markets. In New Jersey, the telco expects to have its FiOS television products available to about 450,000 households by March. More than 99 percent of Verizon's FiOS TV customers subscribe to the company's Premier product offering.

For $42.99, Verizon's FiOS TV Premier package includes nearly 200 channels of all-digital programming, more than 20 high-definition channels, a VoD library with 3,000 titles, and much more. It is delivered over Verizon's fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

Verizon, which launched FiOS TV just a year ago in Texas, said it currently offers the service in parts of California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia. The company now has video franchises covering approximately 3 million households in nine states and nearly 200 franchise areas.

Verizon Communications Inc. www.verizon.com

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