Word is out that Temple Terrace will be next location for Verizon to launch their FiOS IPTV service. Temple Terrace granted Verizon a video franchise earlier this year. The Tampa Tribune writes that Temple Terrace and Verizon will make the announcement this next Tuesday. Verizon is also in talks with Tampa and Hillsborough county over video franchise agreements.

Verizon will provide competition with the local cable television company, Bright House Networks, and satellite television companies.

Cable Rates Rising Next Year

The much needed competition is welcomed as cable rates continue to increase. The nation's largest cable companies are raising rates across the board. They claim the new rates are a response to rising costs of programming and investment in new services. Comcast Corporation is raising the rate on its most popular cable package by an average of 6 percent next year. Time Warner cable announced they will raise rates by 3.1 percent for its expanded basic package and 1.9 percent for its limited basic plan.

Our question is, why should we pay for the "investment in new services"? What new services are we paying for? The kicker is that we will probably end up paying additional fees for these "new services" when they are released.

Meanwhile, Verizon lays a fiber optic network in each city they roll FiOS out. You don't see them passing the buck.

Thanks for the tip Rob.

Verizon Communications announced plans to build a fiber-optic network that will deliver the region's fastest data speeds as well as crystal-clear voice services to Verizon local telephone customers in Bellevue, Bothell, Everett, Kenmore, Kirkland, Redmond, and adjacent areas in the two counties.

Washington becomes the 16th state in which Verizon will deploy its all-fiber network. Fiber-based services are already offered in several states, and the deployment of fiber-optic equipment continues in Oregon, California, Texas, Florida, Indiana, and the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The new network is also capable of providing in-home television service, and Verizon intends to provide a competitive choice to the existing cable television providers in the future.

The future of television arrives this week in this northern Virginia community, when Verizon unveils Verizon FiOS TV over its revolutionary fiber-optic network here.

Herndon is the second community to date in which Verizon is offering FiOS TV. The service debuted Sept. 22 in Keller, Texas, and customer sales there have been strong. Verizon plans to make FiOS TV available in the future in other communities in Virginia and across the company's service territory.

Verizon is bringing to 17 more New Jersey communities a fiber-optic network that will deliver faster data speeds, crystal-clear voice -- and also has the capability to offer a full suite of video services in the future - to residence and small business customers in the following locations:

The city of Trenton; Maplewood, Montclair, South Orange and West Orange in Essex County; Berlin Borough, Berlin Township, Chesilhurst, Haddon, Waterford and Winslow in Camden County; Piscataway and Plainsboro in Middlesex County; Victory Gardens in Morris County; Hackensack and Teaneck in Bergen County; and Freehold Borough in Monmouth County.

Verizon customers can experience breathtaking high-speed Internet access as the company expands its Verizon FiOS (FYE'-ose) suite of Internet services to more Bucks County communities.

A growing number of residents and small businesses in parts of Langhorne, Hulmeville, Penndel, Chalfont, Dublin, Line Lexington, Plumsteadville, Warrington, and Hilltown now can order the industry's premier mass-market broadband services.

Verizon customers can experience breathtaking high-speed Internet access as the company unveils its Verizon FiOS (FYE'-ose) suite of Internet services in parts of the Harrisburg area.

A growing number of residents and small businesses in parts of Dauphin County now can order the industry's premier mass-market broadband services.

Verizon announced a programming-distribution agreement with Oxygen Media, the only cable network owned and operated by women, for carriage of Oxygen on Verizon FiOS TV. The agreement was signed prior to the Sept. 22 launch of FiOS TV in Keller, Texas. Oxygen is available in the Expanded Basic tier of service in Keller, and Verizon will carry the independent channel in future FiOS TV markets.

Verizon announced separate programming-distribution agreements with one network group and nine independently owned networks for carriage of 12 Spanish language channels on Verizon FiOS TV, which launched its first market on Sept. 22 in Keller, Texas.

The Apple Valley Town Council Tuesday night (10/25) took a major step toward providing residents here with true choice for their cable television services, voting in favor of Verizon's video-franchise application. The council is expected to take up the issue again for a final vote at its Nov. 8 meeting.

If approved on the second vote, the franchise would allow Verizon to deliver its technologically advanced FiOS TV product to Apple Valley’s 22,000 households via the company's new, fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

Verizon announced a programming-distribution agreement with TV One, the new entertainment and lifestyle network for African-American adults. Under the agreement, TV One is now available on Verizon FiOS TV, which was launched in Keller, Texas, on Sept. 22. The agreement was signed prior to the Keller launch, and TV One is currently available in Keller and will be available in future FiOS TV markets.

Is Verizon FiOS TV exactly what the consumer asked for? Verizon has been saying all along that consumers want choice but, who doesn't?

The cable companies clearly don't. They've been throwing money into lobbyists and roadblocks for months trying to slow the progression of the Bell's IPTV rollout initiatives.

The cable companies have a monopoly and with that advantage, they have ran prices up and kept innovation at the pace of a snail. Who needs to innovate with little to no competition?

The cable companies contend that providing a statewide franchise to the telephone companies would provide an unfair advantage unless cable received the same privilege because telephone companies could target niche markets and, "...if telephone companies were allowed to serve only the most lucrative areas of communities that cable operators were required to serve in their entirety, competition would not be enhanced but would suffer." How can competition suffer when there is none to begin with? But regardless, who would be against leveling out the playing field?

Verizon announced it is building a fiber-optic network that will deliver faster data speeds, crystal-clear voice -- and also has the capability to offer a full suite of video services in the future – to residence and business customers in: Audubon, Audubon Park, Barrington, Haddon Heights, Haddonfield, Lawnside and Tavistock in Camden County; and Bergenfield, Dumont, Garfield, Ho-Ho-Kus, Lodi, Ridgewood, Wallington, Washington Township and Woodcliff Lake in Bergen County.

Twenty-six communities, business organizations and a county freeholder board are calling on Gov. Richard Codey and state legislators to end the cable industry’s stranglehold on the video marketplace.

The resolutions were issued over the past month, with Howell Township this week becoming the most recent community to support updating New Jersey’s 30-year-old laws to permit state-issued franchises. Under current law, a competitor to the monopoly cable-TV provider must obtain franchises community-by-community, a time-consuming process that inhibits competition.

"Legislators, local officials and New Jersey residents are saying loud and clear: They want competition and choice in the video market, and they want it now," said Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey. "New Jerseyans are tired of cable’s price hikes, which have become as seasonal as football and trick-or-treat. Cable rates have increased an average of 38 percent over the past five years."

Verizon customers can experience breathtaking high-speed Internet access as the company expands its Verizon FiOS (FYE’-ose) suite of Internet services to 16 New Jersey Communities: East Hanover, Hanover, Harding, Morristown, Morris Township and Parsippany-Troy Hills in Morris County; Ewing, Hopewell and Pennington in Mercer County; Evesham and Medford in Burlington County; Emerson, New Milford, Oradell and River Edge in Bergen County; and Red Bank in Monmouth County.

Verizon announced a programming-distribution agreement with Sundance Channel to carry the channel on Verizon FiOS TV, which launched Sept. 22 in Keller, Texas. The agreement was signed prior to the Keller launch, and the channel is part of the movie package available to Keller subscribers.

FiOS TV contains a broad collection of all-digital programming with more than 330 channels and more on the way. FiOS TV digital customers will also have access to a large selection of on-demand content that is easy to order and view.