Verizon and the county of Hillsborough, Florida reached a
tentative agreement Wednesday night to allow the company to offer its IPTV service, FiOS TV. The new agreement would allow Verizon to offer service to approximately 700,000 residents.
The company is not yet ready to offer service to all areas of the county as fiber-optics lines have not been installed in all areas. Verizon has said they will initally roll out TV service within Carrollwood, Keystone and University neighborhoods of unincorporated Hillsborough, as well as areas near the Sulphur Springs section of Tampa and Temple Terrace. Verizon has plans to roll out the service to other areas within five years.
Verizon will be directly competing with the incumbent cable TV company, Bright House Networks.
The new deal has been
speculated to create a price war between the two companies. Verizon's digital TV service contains an expanded basic package that will include 180 channels of television and music for $39.95 per month. Bright House Network's digital cable package of 175 television and music channels is $58.45 per month.