PPH joines good government groups and consumer advocates in responding to today's NYS PSC approval of the Verizon-NYC Cable Franchise agreement.
The Commissioners of the New York State Public Service Commission approved the cable franchise agreement between New York City and Verizon this afternoon in a four to one vote. The agreement will give Verizon the ability to offer cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone service in New York City for 12 years. Verizon will join Cablevision and TimeWarner in the New York City cable marketplace.
Common Cause/NY, Consumers Union, NYPIRG, and People’s Production House welcome cable competition in New York City, but are deeply disturbed by the lack of meaningful public input throughout this process and are disappointed by the agreement’s numerous consumer protection rollbacks.
While many new consumer protections were added to the agreement at the 11th hour, other existing protections were rolled back with little public review or discussion. In particular, provisions for poor customer service, missed service or installation appointments, and service outages, are all rolled back in comparison to the existing franchise agreements. The agreement could have been strengthened in a number of other areas, including Public, Educational and Government (PEG) provisions, additional resources for The Technology and Education Fund, stronger requirements regarding the build-out schedule to lower-income communities and the inclusion of enforceable penalties built into the contract to ensure adequate incentive for timely performance and incentive to correct problems.
The Verizon-NYC franchise agreement was approved despite substantial concerns raised by Commissioners about Verizon’s consumer performance, as evidenced by Verizon’s inability or unwillingness to fulfill its duty in Long Island and Westchester regarding code compliance.
We call on the Bloomberg Administration and the NYS Public Service Commission to make serious improvements to the existing franchising procedures and stand firm on consumer protections in advance of the renewal process with the incumbent cable providers in New York City.