Cable competition comes to Southborough

SOUTHBOROUGH

Homeowners now have a choice of cable providers after the town signed a 12-year license agreement with Verizon, which pledges to have the town hooked up within three years.

Under the agreement signed last week, Verizon will provide the town with a one-time $100,000 payment for new equipment and dedicate four percent of its annual revenue for public, educational and government programming, Town Administrator Jean Kitchen said.

Verizon, which will compete with Charter Communications, will offer its FiOS TV service through an all-digital fiber-optic network. Kitchen said above ground wiring should be in place with 12 months, but that underground wiring would take up to three years to install.

-- Jennifer Rosinski