Verizon set to battle Comcast for Pittsburgh subs

Verizon's FiOS could soon be doing battle with Comcast for subscribers in Pittsburgh after the city OK’d a tentative 10-year franchise cable agreement with the telco. Verizon will pay 5 percent of its gross revenues—the same as Comcast currently does—to the city, and provide a private FiOS network for public safety use.

The city will offer two additional public-access channels, and it also will receive funding for Pittsburgh Community Television and the city's Cable Bureau, which produces local government programming.

Comcast has a 10-year deal that expires at the end of this year and, to date, it’s been an exclusive one. A Comcast spokesman said the company has some 850,000 customers in and around the city, adding, “From a competitive standpoint, we are very confident in our network and in the products and services we deliver today."

Pittsburgh’s City Council and Cable Communications Advisory Committee have yet to sign off on the plan.

Verizon signed a 15-year deal with Philadelphia--Comcast's home--earlier this year.

For more:
- see this Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article [1]
- or this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article [2]

Related articles
Verizon's Philly FiOS adventure begins [3]   
Verizon got a TV franchise Washington, D.C., last December [4]
Verizon earned the Philadelphia franchise a couple of months ago [5]
FiOS? Cable isn't scared [6]