Town board agrees to contract with Verizon

GUILDERLAND — Verizon FiOS cable television service will be available to 100-percent of town residents over the next five years, according to a franchise agreement the town board approved last week.

Until now, only Time Warner cable service has been offered in Guilderland.

According to Supervisor Kenneth Runion, the 10-year agreement with Verizon is similar to the ongoing agreement the town has, and will continue to have, with Time Warner.

Verizon will pay a 5-percent franchise fee to the town, and will offer two public access channels — one for the school and one for the town, with a 5-cent charge per subscriber each month to support the channels.

However, Verizon will be able to offer FiOS, which is a special fiber-optic network designed specifically for high definition television, and also comes with an interactive media guide.

Residents will be able to choose whether to subscribe to Time Warner or Verizon. Runion said there are roughly 11,700 subscribers to Time Warner. The town has about 34,000 residents.