* Juniper Content Corp. launches new broadband video service
Juniper Content Corp. has launched a new broadband service in partnership with Brightcove. Juniper will use the Brightcove Internet TV platform to distribute content from owned and operated Sorpresa! Network, dubbed the nation’s first Hispanic children’s TV network and digital community. Sorpresa! also distributes content through partnerships with Cablevision Systems Corp., Comcast Corp., Cox Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable, Verizon and The National Cable TV Cooperative. It is also available through third-party mobile and broadband platforms, including Google Video, Verizon Wireless and MobiTV.
On Jan. 19, Juniper merged with Firestone Communications, owner of Sorpresa!.
* ADC opening S.C. facility
ADC Telecommunications Inc. announced that it is opening a new manufacturing facility in Lexington, S.C., near Columbia, with a move-in date set for March. The leased facility will manufacture cable-intensive fiber connectivity products for service providers that deploy FTTX services in the eastern United States.
ADC provides connections for wireline, wireless, cable, broadcast, and enterprise networks.
* South Carolina mulls free statewide broadband
The South Carolina House approved a bill Wednesday that could ultimately provide free broadband for everyone in the state, according to a Greenville News article.
The measure forms a South Carolina Wireless Technology and Communications Commission, which would implement a statewide wireless broadband network. It would make South Carolina the first state to provide statewide wireless broadband Internet.
Infrastructure such as cellular towers and frequencies are already available in the state, and South Carolina would also work with private Internet providers. Faster speeds than the basic service would require extra fees.
* Qwest extends ‘Price for Life’ to small businesses
Qwest Communications International Inc. has extended its “Price for Life” guarantee on Qwest High-Speed Internet service to small businesses. This will allow new and existing small business customers to purchase it, with either a two- or three-year agreement, at a locked monthly rate for the duration of the service.
Qwest is also advertising reduced rates for bundled packages with its data, IP and/or voice solutions. Qwest provides voice and data solutions to consumers, businesses and government agencies nationwide. It launched “Price for Life” to residential consumers in July.
* Verizon expands FiOS TV service in Mass., makes headway in N.Y.
Verizon has introduced its FiOS TV service to the Massachusetts communities of Sudbury and Westwood. This makes 37 communities that have the service in the state, some 7,500 households.
Verizon also has TV franchises in three Massachusetts communities, and it is currently negotiating with about 30 of the state’s communities to obtain additional franchises.
Elsewhere, the Port Chester Board of Trustees in New York on Wednesday approved a video franchise for Verizon, extending the number of N.Y.-based communities to approve the FiOS TV service to 27. The agreement, as with all local franchise approvals in New York, is subject to review by the New York State Public Service Commission.
FiOS TV is based on Verizon’s fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. The service is also available in parts of New Jersey, California, Delaware, Texas, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
