Chesapeake Residents to See More Choice, Competition as Verizon Obtains Cable Franchise for City

CHESAPEAKE, Va. - More residents of Chesapeake are a step closer to having choice for their cable television services, thanks to a unanimous vote by the Chesapeake City Council Tuesday night (Feb. 19) authorizing Verizon to offer its fiber-optic-powered FiOS TV.

The cable franchise covers approximately 81,000 households in Chesapeake.  Verizon currently offers FiOS TV to more than 6,400 households in Chesapeake and will make the service available to all households in the company's initial service area in the city within three years.

Verizon began offering FiOS TV in Chesapeake in December 2007 under "ordinance franchise" rules, which are part of a 2006 law enacted to accelerate choice and competition for cable television services.  The negotiated franchise approved by the City Council will be effective retroactively to Dec. 10, 2007. 

Verizon is providing FiOS services on the nation's most advanced digital, all-fiber-optic network, which has earned the certification of the independent Fiber to the Home Council for providing fiber all the way to customers' homes.

"It's clear from the tremendous demand for FiOS TV that Virginians want choice and competition for their TV service," said Robert W. Woltz Jr., president of Verizon Virginia.  "FiOS TV offers an innovative, reliable and competitive alternative to the incumbent cable provider - powered by our lightning-fast fiber-optic network. 

"Chesapeake residents are saying 'yes' to FiOS TV in rapidly growing numbers, and we hope to increase those numbers even more as we build out our all-fiber network in the city," Woltz said.

In addition to Chesapeake, Verizon currently is offering FiOS TV in parts of Newport News and Virginia Beach in the Hampton Roads area.  The company also offers FiOS TV in the Richmond, Fredericksburg and northern Virginia areas.

Verizon currently offers FiOS TV in 13 states: California, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Virginia. 

FiOS TV offers a broad collection of all-digital programming, more than two dozen high-definition channels in the Hampton Roads market, 10,000 video-on-demand titles and more.  It is delivered over Verizon's fiber-to-the-premises network, which has industry-leading quality and reliability. Fiber delivers amazingly sharp pictures and sound, and has the capacity to transmit a wide array of high-definition programming that is so clear and intense it seems to leap from the TV screen.  

In addition to FiOS TV, Verizon's fiber network also allows the company to offer consumers and businesses crystal-clear voice service and high-speed FiOS Internet Service in Virginia at download speeds of up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds up to 15 Mbps.*   FiOS Internet Service currently is available to many consumers and small businesses in Chesapeake, Newport News and Virginia Beach.

* NOTE: actual (throughput) speeds will vary.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), headquartered in New York, 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 nearly 66 million customers nationwide.  Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network.  A Dow 30 company, Verizon employs a diverse workforce of nearly 235,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of $93.5 billion.  For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

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