Fios

As thousands of striking Verizon workers rallied and picketed from Massachusetts to Virginia, dozens this morning took to the sidewalks outside the company's offices at Ninth and Race Streets in Philadelphia this morning. Verizon Communications Inc. workers first took to the picket lines on Sunday, after unions representing 45,000 technicians, customer-service consultants and operators failed to reach an agreement with management on a new contract. Heath care costs and pensions were among the key issues.

THE GIZMO: We're tracking two stories with a common theme - established tech companies plunging into new product categories. First, there's Verizon and Comcast's entry into home automation/security services. Then, Sony's first tablet computers. WELCOME TO JETSON-VILLE: Buoyed by research showing consumer interest in home automation, Comcast and Verizon are introducing services that make you master of your domain. In a recent demonstration of the forthcoming Verizon Home Monitoring and Control system, actors demonstrated what you'll soon be able to do in real life.

Verizon Communications Inc. has launched FiOS TV and Internet in three neighborhoods in the city - Chestnut Hill, South Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, near Girard College. Elizabeth "Jane" Kilduff, in Chestnut Hill, is one of the company's first new customers. She signed up for Verizon's "triple play" at a promotional price of $79 a month for six months and $109 for the next 18 months. She estimates she will save $4,000 in the two years when compared with her previous service with Comcast for cable TV and Verizon for phone and Internet service.

CITY COUNCIL has a prime opportunity to provide Philadelphians with the long-sought and well-deserved ability to choose another cable TV provider - one with a proven record of solid performance and service. And Verizon is eager for prompt Council action so we can begin to offer Philadelphians a superior choice for their cable service. And choice is good. Residents will be able to change providers that offer subpar service. Choice will lead to better value as competitors fight for customers through pricing and special offers.

Verizon won an important City Council committee vote yesterday - with full Council approval likely - in its bid to compete with Comcast for customers in Philadelphia. Full approval, which could come in two weeks, means that most Philadelphians will eventually have an option besides Comcast, the cable giant with about 1.8 million subscribers in the city, the Pennsylvania suburbs, South Jersey, and northern Delaware. The Committee on Public Property and Public Works yesterday recommended approval of a 15-year franchise agreement that would allow Verizon to build a citywide $1 billion fiber-optic network within seven years.

RE THE DEBATE about FiOS coming to Philly: I don't understand why Verizon needs the city's permission in the first place to run a fiber-optic cable into my house and provide a service. I could see if the product or service had a safety issue, like alcohol or cigarettes, but why does a business need the city's permission to run their business the way they want to? If Acme comes to town, do they need the city's permission because the city wants to protect Genuardi's or because we already have Genuardi's here?

RE TOM SPEYER'S letter: "Please, Council, approve FIOS. " Tom is not alone in the struggle with Comcast. Comcast holds the residents of this city over the coals and pretty much does and charges as it wants because there is no competition. Competition is healthy and I bet Comcast will feel the loss if Verizon is allowed to bring FIOS to Philadelphia. Dish service is not comparable to cable. Maybe the Daily News can start a campaign to get the residents to write members of City Council on this issue.

VERIZON FiOS is being blocked by Frank Rizzo Jr. and Wilson Goode Jr. from coming into Philly. FiOS being voted in would bring in millions of dollars of revenue to the city since Verizon would have to pay a percentage of its profits to the city annually on top of a flat fee of at least $10 million. When libraries and pools are scheduled to close and firehouses are losing equipment, what personal interest could Goode and Rizzo have in assisting Comcast in keeping Verizon and the millions in financial profit for Philadelphia locked out?

IFIND IT LAUGHABLE that on a day when lobbyists for Comcast were deluging City Council with pleas to delay Verizon's bid to bring FiOS service to Philly, my cable TV (and Internet) service was down for nearly 13 hours due to yet another Comcast service interruption in my neighborhood, roughly the 40th time this year such an interruption has occurred, usually when a cloud appears in the sky, or when the wind blows. I urge City Council to do the right thing and approve Verizon's efforts to bring competition to the city.

Telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. hoped to sprint to a new pay-TV franchise agreement in Philadelphia this year and bring the cable battle to Comcast Corp.'s doorstep. But Verizon is facing headwinds from the cable king - which says the city's proposed 15-year deal with Verizon should be the same as the deal with Comcast - and from the realities of Philly politics. In its initial plan to install a high-speed FiOS pay-TV network in Philadelphia, Verizon said it would not wire the suburbanesque Far Northeast and the Northeast for years.