By ARIELLA MONTI
The agreement will allow the company to provide cable television service to homes within the city limits for 10 years.
The decision came after three months of negotiations between the city and Verizon. "It was not easy," City Manager Charles Theofan said of the process. "It got quite contentious at times."
"It took a very long time for the legalese department to cooperate with the city," said Councilwoman Denise Tangney. "They were stalling on some very basic words."
But, Theofan concluded, "It's a good agreement, and the people are going to have a choice."
The City Council also approved the renewal of its contract with Cablevision for another 10 years at its Feb. 6 meeting. In contrast with their experience with Verizon, city officials seemed pleased with their negotiations with Cablevision. "Cablevision was nothing but pleasure," said Theofan, adding that the process took only a few phone calls and one meeting. "They were so obliging, and we had no problems at all."
The city will receive 5 percent of the television portion of each subscriber's bill from both companies, the maximum franchise fee allowed by the New York State Public Service Commission. In fiscal year 2007-08, the city received $610,000 from Cablevision.
Councilman Lenny Remo suggested at the Feb. 6 meeting that Cablevision use one of the empty stores downtown as a customer service center, so subscribers don't have to travel to Freeport to pick up or drop off cable boxes or pay their bills, but he was unsure whether Cablevision would take the city up on its offer.
"I like the idea of competition," said Russell LiBrizzi, a Long Beach resident who said he is excited about Verizon's arrival in town. "Obviously, competition in a free marketplace encourages companies to do the best
they can."
LiBrizzi, who subscribes to Cablevision, said he is curious to see which service will be better. "As soon as FiOS comes in, I'm jumping on it," he said. "If it's equal or better, I'm staying with it. If it sucks, then I'll go back to Cablevision."
Comments about this story? AMonti@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
