| reply to jammmin
Re: Verizon Goes to Court to bring FIOS TV to Mont County MD >Comcrap is in bed with Montgomery County to stall the progress of FIOS.>>
Just goes to show you, democracy dosen't work  ....
All the more reason why I'm rooting for Verizon to make more StateWide Franchise agreements and put a dent into cable... I notice that the Cablevision fee in NJ hasn't risen in a while, either...co-incidence? Whatever happened to all that 'rising production costs' crap they've been telling us? |
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 JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD
 ·Verizon FiOS
| reply to jaums
said by jaums:Will Mongomery County finally say something now? Maybe I don't know where to look, but all I have been able to find is silence from the county, which makes me wonder if they feel they have something to hide. Hide from me - I was born here and lived here all my life, paying taxes all the while. I think I have a right to know how they are representing me. According to the Denise Mahoney, assistant to the city manager in Bowie, Montgomery County has not been silent to the US Senators from Maryland.
quote:
The City of Bowie is urging Maryland’s U.S. senators to vote against a bill that would essentially give the federal government control over city jurisdiction in matters involving cable operators.
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As a result, the city is urging Maryland’s Senators, Barbara Mikulski and Paul Sarbanes, to not support the bill. Mahoney said other cities and counties, including Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, Howard and Montgomery, have joined in their efforts.
Melissa Schwartz, Mikulski’s communication director, said the senator is ‘‘looking to hear comments from all interested parties once the Senate Commerce Committee presents its version of the bill to the full Senate.”
...
»www.gazette.net/stories/062206/b···46.shtml
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to TheOtherPete
Even if Verizon wins this suit and is granted a television franchise (or if a statewide/nationwide franchise is granted), that won't stop Rockville from imposing unreasonable permit fees, will it?
(anyone who isn't familiar with Rockville's way of "protecting" residents from Verizon's fiber can read about it here: »libes.com/don/blog/2006/05/rockv···uum.html ) |
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| said by JTRockville:Even if Verizon wins this suit and is granted a television franchise (or if a statewide/nationwide franchise is granted), that won't stop Rockville from imposing unreasonable permit fees, will it? Right, I don't think the two issues have anything to do with each other - one is about physically laying fiber, the other (this lawsuit) is about offering the specific television service over the fiber once its been deployed.
Even if VZ wins the lawsuit, MontCounty could get revenge by making VZ jump through hoops to deploy any more fiber in the county. |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD | I'm never going to get FiOS.
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BarneyBadAssBadasses Fight For FreedomPremium
join:2004-05-07
00001 | reply to JTRockville
JT,
Personally, I'm just sorry Vz. didn't take the next step and find a way to file RICO too... now.. that would have been a really interesting set of circumstances!
I have FIOS and I love it.. and the minute FIOS TV is available....... Comcast is gone gone gone.. oh.. did I say GONE???
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---Barney |
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| Thanks for the great find!!! I remember ~ a year and a half ago getting FIOS internet and hearing about FIOSTV in a few months..... well now I see what happend to that. Hope this lawsuit is quick and painful. Honestly Comcast has WAAAAAY to much power here in Montgomery County and I have NEVER been happy with them. GO VERIZON |
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| I would love for this lawsuit to be resolved quickly too (so I can dump Directv) but somehow quick and lawsuit never seem to go together.
I guess the best we can hope for is the lawsuit motivates MoCo to meet VZ halfway in coming up with a workable franchise agreement. If it actually has to go to court to settle we might as well kiss FIOS TV goodbye until 2008. |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to TheOtherPete
said by TheOtherPete:I agree - could someone post the email address of the "right" people we should contact and express our displeasure? I sent an email off in April to: 'amy.wilson@montgomerycountymd.gov' 'jane.lawton@montgomerycountymd.gov' 'douglas.duncan@montgomerycountymd.gov' 'county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov' based on the other thread about the Verizon meetings and the slow progress of bringing FIOS TV to the county and got a fluffy reposnse from the county council (George Leventhal) that basically said it was the executives job to negotiate the contract, nothing else from the other parties the email was sent to. Very disappointing. I keep hearing that the "right" people are the exec and the council.
I did it before too, but I'm going to do it again. Maybe, in light of this lawsuit, it will make a difference. (at least for those of you who aren't under the protection of the City of Rockville) |
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BarneyBadAssBadasses Fight For FreedomPremium
join:2004-05-07
00001 | JT... can I have some of what your smokin? 
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---Barney |
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DonLibesPremium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19 | reply to TheOtherPete
said by TheOtherPete:I guess the best we can hope for is the lawsuit motivates MoCo to meet VZ halfway in coming up with a workable franchise agreement. If it actually has to go to court to settle we might as well kiss FIOS TV goodbye until 2008. I cannot imagine this going to court. It's all about money. The lawyers can make that decision tonight. But if they spend 2 years in court, they're just flushing that money (that they're arguing about) down the toilet.
I especially liked the part of the complaint where Verizon said:
The county does not need the money. It is projecting a surplus of roughly $1 million for its cable fund in fiscal year 2007. It contains a bit of truth but a bit of hyperbole as well. Oh yes, these two could be at it for years. |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| I could say the same about Verizon and my phone bills. Why should I pay these bills in full? Verizon has a huge surplus - they don't need that much of my money!
I do think some of Verizon's complaints are valid, even if this particular justification is somewhat specious. |
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JTRockvilleData HoPremium,MVM
join:2002-01-28
Rockville, MD | reply to BarneyBadAss
No. But I'll give you a pen, paper, and a stamp so you too can write another letter to our County Exec. Or you can just use email.
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| reply to BarneyBadAss
Well the good news on the National Franchise front is that House has passed a norrow version of the bill and the Senate version came out of committe mark up on Wednesday. So it should be put on the Senate floor sometime after the July 4th recess for debate and voting. So depending on how strong the AT&T & Verizon Lobby is, there may or maynot be a bill before the end of the year. Still solid progress is being made and this could be become a popular issue by voters (saving taxpayers money and giving them more choices always good in an election year).
So hopefully with the Verizon Case and a National Franchise bill looming, MC will be forced to the table and no more screw the voters attitude from the county leadership. |
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DonLibesPremium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19 | said by Hopeless in MC :
... could be become a popular issue by voters (saving taxpayers money and giving them more choices always good in an election year). If you think this could become a popular issue with voters, then now is the time to alert:
- other candidates for County Executive (Leggett, Silverman)
- parties (GOP, Dems, Greens, etc.)
- voter education groups (League of Women Voters, etc.)
- local newspapers (Gazette, etc.) |
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| Been emailing all the newspapers for awhile and will continue. Good idea on the voter groups. This issue just needs critial mass and I think the Verzion Lawsuit and the progress on the national bill goes along way to motivating the media to pay attention. |
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RayWPremium
join:2001-09-01
Layton, UT
kudos:1 | reply to wmcbrine
Last time I worked with fibre we were looking at 1500 MHz for a single fibre (and most are bundles). Let us use a nice round 10 MHz for Analog bandwidth (6 MHz is what is currently used) which would give 150 ANALOG channels on one old fashion fibre. Now that was about 10 years ago. Using modern digital modulation techniques, multi-mode fibre, and probably higher energy light and better fibre for much greater BW, 65 channels does not seem too bad.
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I am not lost, I find myself every time. |
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BarneyBadAssBadasses Fight For FreedomPremium
join:2004-05-07
00001 | reply to JTRockville
So far, I'm not convinced anyone there is capable of reading... 
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---Barney |
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Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| reply to cbrain
said by cbrain:I am confident our expensive county cable bureaucracy has acted in the best interests of our citizens and that Duncan has handled the negotiations as efficiently as his campaign for governor. The facts should come out of this litigation and we can all judge how well our public servants performed and the value of our cable office. I’m sure the neighboring jurisdictions that rolled over for Verizon will now see the additional value achieved from holding out and litigating. Let's look at two of those jurisdictions that you accuse of *rolling over for Verizon*: Howard County and Anne Arundel County (both of which neighbor Montgomery County) and I'll even throw in Prince George's County, which is *currently* in negotiations with Verizon regarding FIOS TV (and is also a neighbor to Montgomery County).
All the jurisdictions I named have a majority cable-TV provider in common: Comcast Cable Communications. (In fact, Howard and Prince George's Counties have Comcast as the *sole* cable TV provider.) Unlike Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County has overbuilder RCN in parts of the county (Silver Spring and parts of Germantown/Gaithersburg); however, because of the financial troubles plaguing RCN, Comcast naturally doesn't see them as a threat, despite their having a countywide franchise. In Howard County, Verizon is deploying FIOS TV throughout the county as it modernizes the existing copper plant; in Prince George's County, where negotiations are ongoing, it is still modernizing the plant during negotiations. Also in Prince George's County, FIOS is rolled into areas with literally zero DSL penetration (example: Accokeek, MD, in far southwestern Prince George's).
Last, but certainly FAR from least, Douglas Duncan's campaign for governor of Maryland is deader than the political career of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (and for which I, a registered Democrat, am decidedly grateful).
Am I a Martin O'Malley supporter? No chance of that.
Instead, I am going to vote to re-elect Robert Erlich to a second term as governor (and I will be voting for Bob Steele for United States Senate) as opposed to returning to the spectacularly failed policies of the Dishonorable Parris N. Glendening and the Hyperliberal wing of the Democratic Party. |
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DonLibesPremium,ExMod 2001
join:2003-01-19 | said by PGHammer:... because of the financial troubles plaguing RCN, Comcast naturally doesn't see them as a threat, despite their having a countywide franchise. Minor correction: RCN does *not* have a countywide franchise. RCN is restricted to their current footprint (parts of Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, as I recall). Should RCN ever want to expand, they'll have to renegotiate their franchise with the county. |
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