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Others Entering Cable TV Picture Telephone Companies Are Showing an Interest -- but Not in Jacksonville Yet.

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By DAVID BAUERLEIN

Telephone companies are slowly pushing into the cable TV business, creating a new playing field for consumers who have watched their cable TV bills go up. In Southwest Florida, Verizon signed trail-blazing agreements this month with Hillsborough County and Bradenton to provide cable TV service. The pacts are part of Verizon's plan to compete in a six-county region around the Tampa Bay area. Verizon will use a fiber-optic network to transmit cable TV programs along with telephone and Internet service.

Telephone companies haven't made that kind of splash in Northeast Florida, where consumers choose between the local cable company or getting a satellite TV dish.

But in the coming years, telephone companies could become a growing force in the cable TV market, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Having such a rivalry will knock down cable TV rates by 15 percent, a federal study concluded in 2004. Comcast is the major cable TV provider in Northeast Florida. The company raised its rates by an average of about 4.3 percent for 2006. Bill Ferry, regional vice president of government affairs for Comcast, said cable TV operators already face stiff competition from satellite TV companies. While that showdown hasn't driven down the cost of cable TV, it has forced cable and satellite companies to invest in better service and a bigger array of programs, he said. Verizon doesn't have any plans to enter the Jacksonville market, said spokesman Bob Elek. The construction of the fiber-optic network in Southwest Florida will cost several hundred million dollars. He said Verizon is concentrating on that part of the state because the company already provides telephone and Internet service there.

BellSouth also doesn't have any immediate plans to compete for cable TV business in Jacksonville, said spokesman Todd Smith. However, he said BellSouth is doing a pilot project this year in the Atlanta area to test transmitting TV programs into homes on the same cables used for telephone and Internet service.

Brian Dietz, spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunication Association, said telephone companies have made plans in the past to get into the cable TV business but didn't follow through.

"Until they follow through on their promises, it's hard to draw any conclusions on the effect more competition will bring," he said. david.bauerleinjacksonville.com, (904) 359-4581

Source: Florida Times Union

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