Verizon to provide cable services in Westborough
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Westborough - The Verizon cable contract that took more than two years to negotiate took the Westborough selectmen only minutes to sign.

They did so, unanimously, July 17, beginning the competitive cable era in town.

"I look forward to bringing cable competition to Westborough," said Selectman George Thompson, minutes before voting to approve the decision to bring Verizon to town.

The board held a public hearing on the matter June 26 and had hoped to vote at that time, but Verizon and Charter Communications, which also provides cable services in Westborough, were still negotiating the details of an interconnect agreement. Because they were, the board postponed the vote on bringing Verizon to town to its July 17 meeting.

At the June 26 public hearing, however, support for bringing Verizon to town as a cable provider was overwhelming, and continued to be right up until the day of the vote.

"We've received many e-mails and letters and calls in support of Verizon coming to Westborough," Selectman Tim Dodd said.

According to Verizon representative Peter Bowman, Verizon and Charter agreed on the interconnect agreement - which allows Verizon to pick up Charter's public access programming - about four hours before the July 17 meeting.

Bowman said it would only be a matter of days before Verizon would be able to offer and provide cable television service to Westborough residents.

"All of the software and hardware we need to provide town residents our services are in place, so once we are able to start accepting orders we'll be able to start filling those orders," Bowman said. "There will be no down time."

The contract the selectmen signed with Verizon on behalf of the town is for 15 years.

Bowman said Verizon is excited to get started.

"This is our 32nd franchise in Massachusetts and I think in every one of those towns we were the second cable provider," Bowman said. "Competition is the root of the American way. We're looking forward to offering our products to Westborough. From the marketing and research we've done, we expect this to be an area very receptive to our services."

Bowman and other Verizon representatives, as well as Charter attorney Bob Spain praised the work of the Tim Reiter, former chair of the Westborough Cable Supervisory Committee.

Reiter and his committee negotiated the contract between the town and Verizon, as well as an contract extension with Charter. Reiter's time as chair ended June 30.

"I've seen a lot of cable negotiations before and I must say this one was by far the best," Spain said. "It was skillfully negotiated and I was proud to be associated with it."

Reiter is pleased with the results of his committee's negotiations.

"It think it will be good for Westborough to have competition," Reiter said. "Competition always seems to make everything better. But I'm a guy who has been pretty happy with Charter's service. They've done a great job in town and I don't think that should be forgotten just because Verizon is now in town offering their services. Moving forward, I'm sure both companies will do a great job serving the cable needs of Westborough."