Verizon has Begun Competing for Cable Television Customers

Beginning today, New Yorkers will have another cable provider to choose from when Verizon begins offering their service. Verizon Communications, the city’s largest phone company, will start hooking up cable customers for television in parts of 108 neighborhoods across the five boroughs. On July 16, state regulators approved a 12-year franchise for the company to sell cable television. As part of the agreement, Verizon must make its service available to all of the city’s 3.1 million households by 2014. No single competitor has yet been able to offer service for all of the city.

Verizon has been competing for cable subscribers with Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast and other providers on Long Island and in Westchester, New Jersey and other areas by offering discounts and extra features, like digital video recorders that let viewers pause shows and resume them on other televisions.

For $94.99, the current promotional deal for FiOS includes unlimited local and long-distance phone service, an Internet connection of 20 megabits per second and a television package that includes 100 high-definition channels.