Verizon Communications last week asked for permission to sell pay TV services in New Jersey. The telco was the first to file under a new New Jersey law that bypasses local cable franchise requirements.
The company is seeking permission to offer TV services over its new fiber-optic network in 316 New Jersey communities with 2.1 million homes. That’s 70 percent of the state’s households. It wants to launch the service in late next month and scale up service to 500,000 homes by March.
The telco plans to offer nearly 200 digital channels, more than 20 of them in high-definition. Its video library would launch with about 3000 titles. Verizon already offers TV services to about 3 million households in parts of Texas, California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia.
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities has 45 days to consider Verizon’s application.
