Verizon makes PEG channels available
By Ken Powers Community Reporter

Westborough - Three days after receiving a letter from the town that it planned to begin the process of revoking the 15-year cable television license agreed to in July 2007 because of non-compliance, Verizon notified the town via e-mail that the Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) programming channels, which had not been operational, were operational - ef- fective immediately.

At its April 1 meeting, the Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to have Town Counsel Greg Franks initiate the process to revoke the license because the PEG channels, which were to be available shortly after Verizon cable television service started in town last summer, were still not available.

Both Town Coordinator Henry Danis and Selectman Lydia Goldblatt were emphatic at the April 1 meeting when expressing their displeasure that the PEG channels had not been made available, despite repeated promises by Verizon personnel that the problem would be rectified soon.

When April 1 came and the PEG channels were still not available, Goldblatt and Danis urged the board that it needed to take whatever measures were necessary to resolve the issue.

"It's really as simple as three strikes and you're out," Selectman Lydia Goldblatt said. "They promised we'd have the channels by the end of January. Then it was the end of February. Then it was the end of March. Enough's enough."

Franks drafted and sent the letter via certified mail to Verizon April 3. The letter was received April 4 and on April 7 the channels were available to the residents of Westborough.

Goldblatt laughed heartily when asked her reaction to the PEG channels suddenly being available.

"Amazing isn't it?" Goldblatt asked. "Unfortunately, that how big business operates. They get away with as much as they can for as long as they can. I'm sure they were going to let it go for as long as they could and wouldn't do anything until they had to. The first business day after receiving the letter, the problem is resolved and the channels are available. I guess it could have just been a coincidence, but I'm not buying it."

Verizon officials explained during the fall of 2007 that the delay in making the PEG channels available was because it had to construct a system that would allow Verizon's system to interconnect with Charter, which is also available in Westborough and already providing the channels. Verizon said the building of the system took longer than they expected.

Part of the reason for Franks's decision to begin the license revocation process was that Verizon was charging Westborough subscribers for the channels even though the service was unavailable to them.

The letter that Franks sent to Verizon notified the company that it had 30 days to rectify the breach and start broadcasting the channels. Had Verizon not resolved the issue and made the channels available, they were informed in the letter that Franks would have advised the Board of Selectmen to proceed with the next step in the process, the scheduling of a hearing that could have resulted in the assessment of liquidated damages, a claim on Verizon's performance bond or the revocation of the license.