The Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, Va. voted yesterday to grant Verizon a franchise for FiOS TV. Two weeks ago, the town of Dumfries also gave Verizon authorization to roll out its video service.
There are 130,000 households in Prince William County.
Areas in Virginia that have already approved Verizon’s FiOS TV are Fairfax County, the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax, the town of Herndon, and the Marine Corps Base at Quantico. Nearby in Maryland, Verizon has received okays from Howard County and the city of Bowie.
Verizon in late March announced it will extend its fiber-optic network to a total of 25 of its local service areas in Virginia by the end of 2006, making more than 300,000 households capable of receiving the company’s FiOS TV service.
Separately, Verizon is ready to provide FiOS to an initial 40,000 households in the Tampa Bay, Fla. area.
The communities where FiOS TV will be available in this initial offering are Beach Park, Seminole, Hyde Park, Sulphur Springs, Bayshore Beautiful, Palma Ceia, New Tampa and areas of the city served by Verizon around the University of South Florida and Temple Terrace. In the months ahead, Verizon will expand FiOS TV’s availability to more households in Tampa.