Portsmouth City Council makes deal with Verizon

Posted to: Business News Portsmouth
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By Carolyn Shapiro
Jen McCaffery
The Virginian-Pilot
© July 24, 2008

The Portsmouth City Council has approved a franchise agreement with Verizon Communications Inc., allowing the company to begin selling its television service in the city.

Verizon will pay Portsmouth a surcharge every three months of 50 cents for each TV subscriber, City Attorney Tim Oksman said. The company also will pay a quarterly franchise fee of 5 percent of its gross revenues.

The franchise covers 15 years and the city's 39,000 households, but Verizon has committed to reach only an "initial service area" within three years. The initial area includes about seven neighborhoods in the Churchland and Hodges Ferry areas, where Verizon is now building its new fiber-optic high-speed network. The company said it intends to start offering its Fios TV service there later this summer.

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