Verizon for Island Park? Not anytime soon

Residents in the Village of Island Park that want Verizon FiOS television service are going to have to wait a little bit longer — a few more years, in fact.

While Verizon TV is available to residents of Harbor Isle and Barnum Island, it has been absent for residents in the village who wanted to switch from Cabelvision. And the reason? Verizon doesn’t have the permission to build its service in the village, and it doesn’t want it right now.

“They have never reached a franchise contract agreement with us,” said Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka. “Our lawyer has reached out to them, and they haven’t gotten back to us. We’re willing to give them the same agreement as other villages and that of Cabelvision. But so far, they’re just not coming to any agreement with us.”

A franchise agreement is an agreement between a municipality and a service provider that basically allows the provider to start building the necessary infrastructure in the municipality. Island Park already has a franchise agreement with Cabelvision, so the cable provider is able to install the necessary infrastructure to bring its television programming to residents. Without that agreement, Verizon can’t come into Island Park.

In New York, unlike other areas, each municipality has the authority to negotiate its own franchise contract. (In contrast, Verizon has one state-wide contract with New Jersey, which streamlines the process of installing FiOS in new areas) Verizon has an agreement with the Town of Hempstead, which is why FiOS TV is available in the unincorporated areas of Island Park.

“We probably will not have [a franchise with Island Park] for the foreseeable future,” said John Bonomo, a Verizon spokesman. “Because our focus right now is building deeper into those communities where we already have TV franchises.”

Bonomo explained that, as part of many of the franchise agreements Verizon currently has, it has to have the infrastructure in place to offer its service to 100 percent of the municipality’s residents within five years of the franchise agreement going into effect. “So that’s where the focus is these days, rather than getting new TV franchises from new towns or villages,” said Bonomo.

Many of the existing franchise agreements Verizon has in New York were signed between 2006 and 2009 — meaning that some of the five-year deadlines are coming due soon.

Negotiating a franchise agreement with Verizon would be in the village’s best interests. Not only would it provide FiOS TV as an option for residents, but the village would also receive what is known as a “franchise fee” — a percentage of what Verizon — or any service provider — makes is given back to the village. It varies depending on the negotiations, but is usually somewhere between one and five percent. But it will be a few years before Island Park is able to negotiate a franchise agreement with Verizon.

“Over the course of the next three to four years, we still will have more [municipalities] where we’re focusing on completing the build,” said Bonomo. “For the next three or four years or so, we know where our focus is going to be, and that’s completing those communities.”