A new cable sheriff in town with Verizon?
Published on May 25th, 2005
There may be a new cable providing sheriff in town after the Board of Selectmen voted to grant Verizon a license to provide cable and Internet service - in addition to their current phone service - to Stoneham residents.
Verizon joins Comcast and RCN which currently serve the people of Stoneham, and hoped to create a "competitive situation" which would presumably drop rates and create a healthy free market situation.
Verizon plans on installing its own fiber-optic network within Stoneham, and hopes to improve Internet access while also offering cable television.
"It's expected that FTTP (Fiber to the premises) is currently being engineered in Stoneham and will be deployed sometime in 2006," said Paul Traynon, a spokesperson for Verizon. "The network will improve clarity in services you received now, greatly improve broadband services that you receive now, and allow cable television competition in the community as well. This is a revolutionary network...no one has ever offered this to the home."
"Upon the network being built, we would work with the town officials to seek a cable television license as required by the Commonwealth," said Traynon. "We ask for that process to be kicked off tonight with a letter from the Board of Selectmen to the Department of Energy and Telecommunication noting that you are commencing the competitive cable television process."
Traynon also asked the Selectmen to knock the 60 day requirement down to 30 days to notify all involved of the impending competitive market. The Verizon official indicated that they were interested in following the path RCN took to get into 18 communities between 1997 and 2003 as a competitive cable provider.
Town Counsel Bill Solomon advised the Selectmen to waive both requirements, and explained that the Selectmen would have a window of opportunity to approve a 10-15 year license for Verizon to offer cable television to the Town of Stoneham.
Solomon voiced some concern that Verizon's entrance into town would result in a removal of rate regulations in the Town of Stoneham, and could affect the agreement that gave birth to the Stoneham Community Access.
SCA Director Amy Brough and Stoneham Schools Technology Director Bob Hogan both spoke to the Selectmen about the loss of money for the local channels.
"What will happen if we lost that?" said Brough, if the local entities lost control of the cable licensing. "We would lose all right to the control we have over those contracts and check on the cable companies to make sure they were doing what they were supposed to be doing."
"They'd still get the same calls about the service being down, but we'd lose our control," added Brough, who also added that the funding the SCA currently enjoys could go down if the state of federal government takes control of the licensing. "I just ask that you'd look into it because there is more going on at the state and national level."
"The town has certain benefits under the existing cable license," said Solomon. "The funding for the Community Access Corp. comes from agreements with the cable companies, which previously had provided local coverage," said Solomon. "The funding from Comcast is over $780,000 and the RCN payments are $130,000 to the Cable Access, as well as an institutional network that services the town and schools."
Solomon continued to list a litany of contributions, equipment and grants contributed by Comcast and RCN, and estimated the value of a 10-year cable license to Stoneham to be valued in the neighborhood of $4.8 million.
"We have one of the best license agreements with cable in the state," said Solomon. "There isn't anything the federal government is going to legislate that will be as good as the agreement we've got. The best they could possibly offer is what we've already got."
Solomon also warned that Verizon is working to strip local municipalities of their license power at the federal level.
"They want to take away your right to license a telephone company to provide cable or Internet," said Solomon. "This town has quite a bit to lose if that succeeds. "
"We'd like to bring competition into every home in Stoneham," said Traynon, who estimated they would hope to retain 35 percent of a town's cable subscribing base. "We know that RCN ran into some financial difficulty and couldn't do that, so we'd like a shot. Competition in any environment should get costumers a better product and drop the price."
All parties agreed that negotiations and a public hearing would be necessary before Verizon would enter into the cable television business.
"We're here because the rules say we have to be, and we're following the rules that are in place," said Traynon, who acceded that Verizon would also be responsible for the 5 percent franchise fee utilized for local cable access. "We're committed to local franchising, and that's why we're here."
The Selectmen unanimously approved sending the letters off to note Verizon's desire to enter into the cable television business, and to waive the aforementioned requirements.
Welch and Smith named Heritage Award Winners
The Stoneham Historical Commission named its Heritage Award winner for this year were Colonial Park third grade teacher Nancy Smith and South School third grade teacher Maureen Welch.
"I wanted to thank the Board for giving us this opportunity," said Stoneham Historical Commission Chairman Stephen Rotondi.
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