Hermosa Beach Votes for Verizon Video Franchise

Hermosa Beach Votes for Verizon Video Franchise

City Council Action Heralds Improved Competition, Greater Consumer Choice

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif., Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hermosa Beach City Council Tuesday night (12/13) took a major step toward providing residents here with true choice for their cable television services, voting in favor of Verizon's video-franchise application. The council is expected to take up the issue again in January for a final vote.

If approved on the second vote, the franchise would allow Verizon to deliver its technologically advanced FiOS TV product to Hermosa Beach's 10,000 households via the company's new, fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network.

This South Bay city is the fourth community in California to vote on a video-franchise application from Verizon. The company obtained its first franchise in Beaumont last year and reached similar agreements with Murrieta and Apple Valley this year. Communities in Florida, Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts and New York have also approved franchises for Verizon.

"This is great news for the residents of Hermosa Beach, who are now much closer to having greater choice for their video entertainment," said Tim McCallion, president for Verizon's Pacific region. "We commend the City Council, mayor, city staff and city attorney for their dedication and hard work throughout this process and await their final vote next month. Hermosa Beach's leaders recognize and support the technological advantage and competitive benefits fiber will bring to their community."

Many Verizon customers in Hermosa Beach are already enjoying FiOS Internet Service, which delivers blazing-fast download speeds 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 the council's 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 Hermosa Beach."

Verizon launched FiOS TV Sept. 22 in Keller, Texas, unveiling a broad collection of all-digital programming with more than 330 total channels and more on the way.

Verizon FiOS TV delivers 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 is currently constructing FTTP networks in more than half the states where it offers landline communications services.

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

* NOTE: Actual (throughput) speeds will vary.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), a Dow 30 company, is a leader in delivering broadband and other communication innovations to wireline and wireless customers. Verizon operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 49.3 million customers nationwide, and one of the nation's premier wireline networks, serving home, business and wholesale customers in 28 states. Based in New York, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 215,000 and generates annual revenues of more than $71 billion from four business segments: Domestic Telecom, Domestic Wireless, Information Services and International. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com/.

VERIZON'S ONLINE NEWS CENTER: Verizon news releases, executive speeches and biographies, media contacts, high quality video and images, and other information are available at Verizon's News Center on the World Wide Web at http://www.verizon.com/news. To receive news releases by e-mail, visit the News Center and register for customized automatic delivery of Verizon news releases.

Source: Verizon

CONTACT: Jon Davies of Verizon, +1-805-372-6969, jon.davies@verizon.com

Web site: http://www.verizon.com/
http://www.verizon.com/news

Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/094251.html

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