The Globe’s Carolyn Johnson reports that while Verizon tells the public that local franchising regulations are an obstacle to the glories of its fiber-optics cable television service, company officials are telling investors that the regulations are no big deal.
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The Scoop
Verizon’s spin is that the two statements aren’t contradictory — they want to change the law to get licenses faster, but they’ll still be able to get the licenses if the law doesn’t change. Fair enough. But Massachusetts cities and towns have gone decades without cable competition. If Verizon’s licensing process with each city or town takes at least six months, so be it. It’s worth the wait, especially when the alternative is giving up local control altogether.
lisa
On the one hand, Verizon is at the legislature, tin cup in hand, begging for legislation that will effecitvely destroy local access for cities and towns. On the other hand, their lobbyists are crawling all over Beacon Hill aiming to stop the Legislature from closing arcane loopholes in the state tax code that allow Verizon to bilk Massachusetts’ cities and towns of more than $78 million in property taxes. What have they got against the residents and municipalities of the Commonwealth?
Anonymous
You guys have it so soft. Here in Northern New England, Verizon is selling off its wireline business to a small company in North Carolina that has gone bankrupt twice and doesn’t have the resources to provide anything approaching fiber to the home. So, while you guys debate the merits of local control, just be thankful that you actually have something to debate local control *over.*