Stage Set for Competition for Long Island Cable TV

STAGE SET FOR COMPETITION FOR LONG ISLAND CABLE TV
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Bruce Lambert]
Across the nation, telephone and cable television companies are starting to invade each other's traditional turf. Their latest battleground, and one of the biggest anywhere, is now on Long Island, New York. Hempstead Town officials have granted Verizon Communications a franchise to provide cable television through its fiber-optic telephone lines, setting the stage for head-to-head competition with the longtime local monopoly, Cablevision. Both companies also provide telephone and Internet connections and offer packages that include television. Cablevision's introductory rate is about $90 a month for all three services. Hempstead's 750,000 residents — more than Boston, Washington or Miami — make it by far the biggest jurisdiction in the New York region to promote such competition. The deal needs the approval of the state's Public Service Commission, but it has already allowed such competition in Massapequa Park and Nyack. Other battlefronts are also opening up, a result of technological advances and deregulation that is forcing the telecommunications industry to reinvent itself. "What's happening there in New York is an early curve of what's going to be happening around the country in the next few years," said Jeff Kagan, a telecommunications analyst. "This is a new wave of competition. Basically the telephone and cable television companies are both rushing to offer the same bundle of services: television, phone, Internet and wireless. The sooner they do, the sooner prices will come down for all the customers."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/nyregion/06cable.html
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