The Murrieta City Council Tuesday night (9/6) voted to provide residents with true choice for their cable television services, awarding a video franchise to Verizon for its Verizon FiOS TV product, to be delivered via the company's new fiber-to-the- premises (FTTP) network.

In awarding the franchise, this Inland Empire city of 80,000 residents becomes the second community in California to pave the way for improved competition in the cable television market. Verizon obtained its first video franchise in Beaumont, Calif., last year and has subsequently reached similar agreements with communities in Florida, Texas and Virginia.

"This is great news for the residents of Murrieta, who will have more choice for their video entertainment," said Tim McCallion, region president for Verizon's Pacific region. "We commend the City Council, mayor, city manager and city attorney for their dedication and hard work throughout this process. Murrieta's leaders recognize and support the technological advantage and competitive benefits fiber will bring to their community."

The city council's decision means that Verizon now has the authority to offer FiOS TV to the 26,500 households of Murrieta. Many Verizon customers in Murrieta are already enjoying FiOS Internet Service, which delivers blazing- fast download speeds approximately ranging from up to 5 Mbps to up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second).

"The incredible bandwidth of FiOS opens up many possibilities for our customers, including telecommuting, distance learning and, with this decision, a new choice in video programming," McCallion said. "Verizon's fiber network brings a distinctive edge in economic development and quality of life to Murrieta."

Programming and pricing details of the video service will be announced when the service debuts in parts of North Texas later this year. FiOS TV will be offered in Murrieta next year.

Verizon FiOS TV will deliver hundreds of digital video and music channels, high-definition programming, video-on-demand content, a robust interactive programming guide and other customer-friendly features via the company's FTTP broadband network. Verizon currently is constructing FTTP networks in more than half the states where it offers landline communications service.

Customers will be able to buy FiOS TV as a stand-alone service or packaged with voice and FiOS Internet Service. Currently, Verizon has announced video content agreements with major and independent network groups, including NBC Universal Cable, Starz Entertainment Group, Showtime Networks, Turner Broadcasting System, A&E Television Networks, Discovery Networks, SiTV and NFL Network, and is close to finalizing agreements with several other major content-partners.