{"id":13164,"date":"2023-02-16T03:06:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T08:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/?p=13164"},"modified":"2023-02-16T03:06:35","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T08:06:35","slug":"in-island-towns-dissatisfaction-with-cable-service-simmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/2023\/02\/in-island-towns-dissatisfaction-with-cable-service-simmers\/","title":{"rendered":"In Island Towns, Dissatisfaction With Cable Service Simmers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fiber<\/a>

Fiber optic cables being laid on Jersey City Avenue and Route 35 South in Lavallette, Feb. 2023. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Island residents are telling their elected leaders that they want more competition when it comes to cable television and internet service \u2013 but despite rumors that spread about \u201cexclusive\u201d deals and future plans, municipal officials have little influence over which companies compete within their borders.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the issue of cable service has been discussed at borough council meetings in Lavallette and Seaside Park. In Seaside Heights, the borough has brought the issue of alleged poor service to the state Board of Public Utilities, which has been collecting facts and acting as a mediator for about two years.<\/p>\n

Residents complain that since Cablevision Systems, which ran the Optimum brand of cable television, internet and phone service, was purchased by French cable operator Altice, service has deteriorated, internet speeds have become frustratingly slow at times, a local office was shut down, and costs have risen. The company has said it has upgraded the island\u2019s systems, added more bandwidth and its cost increases have been driven by higher prices demanded by television networks.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s True and What\u2019s Not?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A popular belief is that cable franchise agreements \u2013 contracts that set forth the terms for a cable company to operate within a municipality \u2013 are exclusive in nature. In fact, federal regulatory law expressly prohibits<\/a> exclusive franchise agreements (47 U.S.C.A. \u00a7541(a)(1)), though the policy rarely increases competition.<\/p>\n

The franchise agreements normally include language that specifies a minimum level of service, the availability of public access stations, services for government and educational agencies, and an annual fee paid to the municipality for the length of the agreement. Any cable provider can enter into a franchise agreement with a local government, however cable lines are not common carriers and headends are not co-located. That means that one cable provider cannot tap into the lines or backend technology of another, and while any number of competitors could offer their service in one town, each company would have to lay out the capital investment to physically wire the entire community and expand its service area.<\/p>\n

Verizon is an outlier. The telecommunications company applied \u2013 and was granted \u2013 a statewide franchise agreement for its FiOS service in 2006. The franchise, in 2020, was extended by another seven years. In exchange for the statewide permission to wire any community in New Jersey, the company hatched an agreement with lawmakers from both the urban and rural portions of the state. Verizon agreed to wire the 70 most densely-populated municipalities in the state, largely urban centers, as well as each county seat, which ensured the service would have a footprint in all regions of New Jersey. On the barrier island, Ortley Beach and the North Beach communities have access to FiOS service since their parent community, Toms River, is the seat of Ocean County.<\/p>\n

To date, Verizon has wired 369 towns for the service, and has announced that it will wire Lavallette and offer service there. There are a few blocks in Seaside Heights that have gotten the service as well, but Seaside Park has lobbied unsuccessfully for years to have FiOS service offered there.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Cablevision is the only franchisee in Seaside Park with regard to cable,\u201d said Mayor John Peterson. \u201cI did ask them about Verizon \u2013 I said we see their lines around \u2013 and interestingly, they said Verizon has been doing that through many municipalities for a couple of reasons. They only need to petition the BPU to start operation of their franchise. At this point, it\u2019s really up to Verizon whether they want to provide cable service here \u2013 it\u2019s up to them, not us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verizon, for its part, is looking toward broadband wireless technology to ultimately supplant its wired network in the delivery of television and internet data service, leading to a slowdown of FiOS deployment. The company has also struggled to justify expansion of FiOS given the required manpower commitment and cost of union labor in wiring municipalities that are not required under the statewide franchise.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s The Answer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Seaside Park, some residents have asked the borough to refuse to renew Altice\u2019s franchise due to the complaints that have been levied by customers. At a recent council meeting, the borough attorney was tasked with researching the formal procedures for non-renewal, which involves a hearing process and the involvement of the BPU.<\/p>\n

The \u201cascertainment study,\u201d however, was deemed to be a duplicate process of what could be accomplished at a lower cost by working with the BPU to settle disputes with Altice. Additionally, if the franchise were to be non-renewed, there is no guarantee another company would buy the franchise, which could theoretically lead to a total loss of service.<\/p>\n

In Lavallette, officials are dealing with what some called misinformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that Verizon is telling potential customers that they cannot provide TV service because of the franchise agreement with Optimum,\u201d said Councilwoman Joanne Filippone. \u201cBut Optimum\u2019s arrangement is with us \u2013 Verizon\u2019s is with the state of New Jersey. They have a statewide franchise. We don\u2019t have to break any agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lavallette is currently eight years into a 10-year agreement with Optimum, although the agreement would not prohibit another cable company \u2013 Comcast, Spectrum or smaller operators \u2013 from applying for their own franchise. Verizon has the aforementioned statewide franchise agreement.<\/p>\n

There is also word that Altice is continuing its upgrade of services on the island, though a company spokesperson would not elaborate on the specifics of ongoing capital projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cCablevision (Altice) is installing fiber optic cable in town,\u201d said Mayor Walter LaCicero. \u201cThey are feeling the pressure of Verizon entering this market.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Verizon has confirmed to Shorebeat that its FiOS service will be offered in Lavallette, it was not clear if the service would include its television product or just its high-speed internet product.<\/p>\n

\u201cVerizon may provide you with internet access which can ultimately provide you with TV,\u201d said LaCicero, referring to the trend of \u201ccord-cutting\u201d in which customers drop paid television service in favor of internet-based streaming services.<\/p>\n

Seaside Park officials said Verizon has been installing new fiber optic cable within the borough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Verizon, it\u2019s always been up to them and they\u2019ve never wanted to do it,\u201d said Councilman Frank \u201cFritz\u201d McHugh. \u201cMaybe now that they have the fiber optic lines, there\u2019s a chance they will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, however, the matter is largely out of the hands of government officials on the local level \u2013 and even in an environment where competition is encouraged, there are no guarantees that wiring a town for service would represent a financial win for the provider, Seaside Park Councilwoman Gina Condos.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on our conversation last time [with Verizon], it\u2019s probably a lot of work without a significant return,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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Island residents are telling their elected leaders that they want more competition when it comes to cable television and internet service \u2013 but despite rumors that spread about \u201cexclusive\u201d deals and future plans, municipal officials have little influence over which companies compete within their borders. In recent weeks, the issue of cable service has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"In #NJ #Beach Towns, Dissatisfaction With #Cable Service Simmers","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[144,1298,142,1959,29,19,20,32,1297],"class_list":["post-13164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lavallette","category-seaside-heights","tag-altice","tag-cable","tag-cablevision","tag-featured","tag-lavallette-nj-news","tag-ortley-beach-nj-news","tag-seaside-heights-nj-news","tag-seaside-park-nj-news","tag-verizon-fios"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/IMG_7444-scaled.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgsn9q-3qk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/lavallette-seaside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}