Residents of the Montgomery County borough of Collegeville and the townships of Skippack and Lower Gwynedd are a major step closer to having a real choice for their cable television services, thanks to recently approved agreements authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV in those communities.

Verizon is the first company to offer such a communications network, connecting homes and businesses directly to fiber optics on a widespread scale.

The communities join the borough of Hatfield, the first member of a consortium of some 30 Montgomery County communities to approve a cable franchise with Verizon. The consortium's steering committee announced on June 28 that it had reached a master agreement with Verizon on the terms of a cable franchise and recommended that each of its member communities grant Verizon a franchise. There are nearly 225,000 households in the municipalities represented by the consortium.

These municipalities join a growing list of southeastern Pennsylvania communities that have said yes to cable competition. In addition to the four Montgomery County consortium communities, 15 other commonwealth municipalities have awarded cable franchises to Verizon, including five in Montgomery County: the boroughs of Lansdale and Schwenksville and the townships of Worcester, Perkiomen and Lower Frederick. The other franchises are in Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties.

Verizon will announce availability plans for FiOS TV in these communities later this year.

"The momentum to bring consumers long-overdue, much-needed choice and competition for cable TV is building in Pennsylvania," said William B. Petersen, president of Verizon Pennsylvania. "Verizon's FiOS TV offers an innovative, reliable and competitive alternative to the incumbent cable provider - powered by our lightning-fast fiber-optic network.

"We hope to bring innovation, reliability and value to more Pennsylvanians by reaching similar agreements with other communities."

Under the agreements, Verizon will be able to offer FiOS TV service to residents of the various municipalities. In addition, the agreements require Verizon to pay the communities franchise fees based on the company's gross revenues on cable services in each community.

Verizon, which launched FiOS TV last September in Keller, Texas, currently offers the service in parts of California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia. The company will make FiOS TV available in Pennsylvania markets where it has negotiated franchise agreements with local authorities.