Sarasota County Grants the Latest Verizon FiOS TV Franchise in Florida

Sarasota County Grants the Latest Verizon FiOS TV Franchise in Florida

County Commission Approves Local Franchise, Opens the Door to More Consumer Choice, Better Competition for Over 246,000 Residents

SARASOTA, Fla., July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Sarasota County today became the ninth jurisdiction in Florida to endorse consumer choice and competition in the cable-TV market when the county commissioners voted to award a far-reaching franchise to Verizon for its FiOS TV product, to be delivered via its new, digital all-fiber network.

The franchise, which could potentially bring competition and consumer choice to over 246,000 residents in the county, makes Florida one of Verizon's most competitive frontiers for FiOS services. As the fiber network is built, the Sarasota franchise, combined with Verizon's franchises for Temple Terrace, Tampa, Oldsmar, Manatee County, Bradenton, Hillsborough County and Pasco County, will enable over 1.8 million residents in Verizon's Florida service territory to enjoy stepped-up competition and more consumer choice for video services in the region.

"Today's franchise in Sarasota County highlights the end of a very successful first phase for Verizon's cable-TV program in Florida," said Alan Ciamporcero, Verizon's Southeast region president. "We will continue to seek franchises elsewhere, but we will be concentrating on broadening our deployment of fiber in those areas where we have TV franchises.

"In Sarasota, the County Commission and members of the county's staff have worked diligently to amend their cable ordinance and to craft a fair and reasonable franchise that recognizes how technology has changed the market," continued Ciamporcero. "That helps Verizon bring competition, choice, value and industry-leading fiber technology to Sarasota County's residents, who are the real winners from today's decision."

Verizon will offer FiOS TV shortly to residents in a northernmost area of the county that Verizon refers to as Sarasota Northside. Residents in other areas will begin to receive service starting in 2007. Service will be extended throughout the initial service area within five years of the initial offering. The franchise covers portions of the unincorporated areas of the county and does not include the cities of Sarasota, Longboat Key, Venice and North Port.

"We look forward to expanding our fiber network and bringing its benefits to more county residents as quickly as possible," Ciamporcero added

As the fiber network is completed, residents will enjoy FiOS broadband products that deliver very fast data speeds ranging from up to 5 Mbps to up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second). Already, some residents in Sarasota Northside and Siesta Key have access to the high-speed broadband connections. Verizon, which launched FiOS TV last September, also offers the service in parts of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Texas and Virginia.

When Verizon reported its 2006 first-quarter earnings, the company noted that it has achieved a 10 percent penetration of FiOS TV-eligible households in its Florida market overall. In Temple Terrace, market penetration is 16 percent since FiOS TV was introduced in that community in December.

The 15-year agreement contains provisions for:

* Two public, educational and governmental (PEG) access channels now and
as many as six later.
* A Community Needs Pass Through Grant in support of PEG channels,
starting at 53 cents per subscriber in years one through three and
potentially increasing to as much as $1.50 per subscriber over the life
of the franchise, as determined by community need.
* Cable service to over 85 schools and to certain government buildings at
no cost; and other important benefits including insurance,
indemnification and enforcement protections.

Verizon's FiOS TV delivers hundreds of digital video and music channels, high-definition programming, video-on-demand content, a robust interactive programming guide and other customer-friendly features. Verizon is constructing its fiber-optic network in 16 states, or more than half the states where it offers landline communications services.

Customers can buy FiOS TV as a stand-alone service or packaged with voice and FiOS high-speed data services, which are already available in some areas. For information on Verizon's FiOS Internet Service and FiOS TV offerings, visit www.Verizon.net/fios and www.Verizon.net/fiostv.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), a Dow 30 company, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 53 million customers nationwide. Verizon Business operates one of the most expansive wholly-owned global IP networks. Verizon Telecom is deploying the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network to deliver the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services to customers. Based in New York, Verizon has a diverse workforce of more than 250,000 and generates annual consolidated operating revenues of approximately $90 billion. For more information, visit 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 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: Media, Bob Elek, +1-813-483-2541, bob.elek@verizon.com

Web site: http://www.verizon.com/
http://www.verizon.net/fios
http://www.verizon.net/fiostv

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

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