Verizon Communication Inc. (VZ) was approved to offer television services New Jersey on Friday, opening the door to fresh competition for the cable companies in the state.
With many of the cable and telco companies crossing each others territory to compete, this offers Verizon a chance to take a bite out of cable's strength, as cable has cut into the phone carrier business via Internet-based phone services.
Verizon is going to compete based upon delivering their services over fiber-optic lines using Internet technology.
"The legislative intent is for competition to have a downward pressure on cable rates and provide New Jerseyans with a greater variety of choices for their cable service and provider," Jeanne Fox, president of the state's Board of Public Utilities, said in a statement.
It's good to see this happen the way it did. To basically invite Verizon in for the purpose of competing, rather taking some type of legislative action to protect an industry, is a positive sign that the government stay out of it and let the market decide who wins.
Verizon will compete with current cable TV providers in New Jersey - Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX)
They added that their FiOS TV service will be available soon to the people of New Jersey.
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