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from: MetroWest Daily News

FiOS leaves public access out of the loop
By Galen Moore/ Daily News staff

Fri May 25, 2007, 12:32 AM EDT

The red-shirted Verizon salesman has been spotted in Marlborough, and soon may be knocking on doors Southborough. The new FiOS fiber-optic cable he is selling comes with high-definition channels and high-speed Internet, but not local public-access channels.

Verizon, which began serving Southborough this week, has been in Marlborough since January, but the company has until December to start delivering local government, education and public-access programs, a spokesman said.

Spokesman Philip Santoro said Verizon needs time to negotiate agreements with existing cable providers, to share their connection to local stations. Verizon is committed to providing the service eventually, Santoro said.

However, a Southborough official said getting Verizon to set aside channels for local programming was the most stubborn sticking point in negotiations with the New York-based company. The final agreement left local programs on shaky ground, said local cable board member Alex Neihaus.

It's not guaranteed that the existing cable provider, Worcester-based Charter Communications, will want to make a deal, he said. "In other words, Verizon and Charter, who are going to be blood competitors, have to sing 'Kumbaya."'

If they can't do it in time for December's deadlines, Southborough has no way to compel Verizon to pick up the public cable offerings, Neihaus said. "This was the very best we could get."

Santoro said it won't be necessary to compel the cable provider, which recognizes the importance of the public cable channels to communities it serves. Sharing services with existing providers is necessary, because it would be costly for the company to install its own direct feed from local cable stations, he said.

In four MetroWest communities where FiOS is now available - Hopkinton, Marlborough, Natick and Southborough - only one, Natick, has an agreement to air the local programming. Natick got its contract with Verizon last December, said station manager Randy Brewer. As of April 16, Verizon subscribers there can watch town meetings, high school sports and other locally produced programs.

Nearby Newton and Wellesley have also negotiated agreements to put public cable channels on Verizon's network. In Newton, where two major cable companies already compete, "I don't think they (Verizon) saw any chance of not doing it," said NEWTV Executive Director Paul Berg.

Berg and other cable TV directors are currently preparing a fight against proposed state legislation they say could doom local channels. The law would consolidate cable franchising under a new state authority, taking the responsibility away from local cable boards.

Among other provisions, it would allow cable providers to pull the plug on any local channel that fails to air at least eight hours per day of original programming.
That could doom local channels, even in a relatively active city like Newton, Berg said.

The bill is scheduled to receive a public hearing June 5.
(Galen Moore can be reached at 508-490-7453 or gmoore@cnc.com.)