Verizon planning to provide service to Northborough
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Northborough - The on-again, off -again eff orts by Verizon and the town of Northborough to have the multimedia conglomerate provide cable television service to the town appear to be on again.

Kathy Dalgliesh, cable TV access director for the town, told the Board of Selectmen at its Sept. 10 meeting that discussions have resumed with Verizon about the company bringing its cable services to town.

"It's nothing formal, nothing official, but I received some calls from people in town wondering why we're dragging our feet abut bringing Verizon to town," Dalgliesh said. "I told them nothing could be further from the truth that we very much want Verizon to come to town.

"I asked them where they got the idea that we were dragging our feet and every one of them told me it was what Verizon told them when they called Verizon wondering why they were coming to towns all around them - like Westborough - but not Northborough."

That prompted Dalgliesh to call Verizon.

"Verizon told me a couple of things," Dalgliesh said. "First of all they told me that no one at Verizon had told anyone in Northborough that it was the town's fault, but they also told me they were still very interested in coming to Northborough. So much so, that they consider coming to Northborough a 'when' not an 'if' situation."

Dalgliesh thinks that Verizon's pursuit of the town in October 2006, then their backing off in February, and now their renewed interest, is simply a matter of prioritizing by Verizon.

"When they started, Verizon targeted 30 communities in central Massachusetts that it wanted to negotiate with and start off ering cable television services to," Dalgliesh said. "So far they've completed or are working on signal agreements with 16. I think what they're doing is completing the ones they're currently negotiating with before beginning negotiations with new communities."

Dalgliesh said she has asked what communities are next in line to be negotiated with and what Northborough can do to get as high up on that list as possible. She said Verizon told her that there is nothing the town can do to expedite the process, but that Northborough is still on the list of communities where Verizon wants to bring cable service.

"I reiterated to Verizon that we are welcoming them to town with open arms and that we're not stopping them in any way, shape or form," Dalgliesh said. "I was assured by Verizon that their coming to town is a, in their words, 'sooner rather than later' situation."

Dalgliesh stated that the town is committed to bringing cable competition in, a statement that Town Administrator Barry Brenner corroborated.

"We are very open to competition," Brenner said. "We think it's a helpful thing for the community. We were excited when they approached us last October and asked us to waive a couple of procedural issues so that the negotiations could be fasttracked."

Brenner noted that Charter's current contract with the town expires in October 2008, and that contract renegotiations will begin soon, something that could be affected by Verizon's being in town or its presence in town being imminent.