Verizon granted local cable deal in Texas

Verizon this week landed its second local cable TV franchise and its first in Texas, where it has been most aggressive in building out fiber-to-the-premises networks.

The city of Sachse, Texas, a Dallas suburb of about 15,000 residents, granted Verizon a local cable franchise Monday night over the objections of its incumbent cable provider, Comcast.

"This is a great opportunity for the city and citizens to get new technology more quickly than we expected," said Bill Atkinson, city manager of Sachse, following the City Council approval of the franchise agreement following its required second reading.

Comcast had opposed the franchise agreement based on its belief that Verizon wasn’t being held to the same requirements that the city imposed on Comcast in its franchise deal. The major concerns that Comcast raised was that the city was forfeiting control of equipment that Verizon is installing in city-owned right-of-way, and allowing Verizon to avoid paying franchise fees on interactive on-demand services such as pay-per-view.

Sachse’s legal counsel decided, however, that the Verizon franchise agreement was "fair and equitable" to the existing Comcast arrangement, Atkinson said.

Verizon spokesman William Kula credited Sachse city officials with "looking beyond Comcast’s stall tactics to recognize the long-term value of what Verizon is doing. This gives us a good indication of anticipated opposition in other areas as well."

Verizon has not yet obtained a cable franchise in Keller, Texas, another Dallas-Fort Worth area, and the first community in which it built an FTTP network. Charter Communications is the cable company there, says Kula, and is expected to oppose the application.

Verizon’s first cable franchise was granted in November in Beaumont, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.