“That’s the one part of this [agreement] that was critical for me,’’ said McGlynn, who as mayor has sole authority under state law to negotiate cable television licenses. “It states that we will both continue to negotiate, to get the other 29 percent of the community wired.’’
In 2009, after years of requests from city officials, Verizon started to negotiate with the city for a cable TV license. Only Comcast currently offers cable television in Medford. Some homes and businesses also subscribe to satellite services, such as DirecTV and the Dish Network, McGlynn said.
The Verizon hearing comes as archrival Comcast expands its outreach in the city. Medford is one of six communities nationwide selected to pilot a new initiative called “Project Open Voice’’ to support local cable television broadcasts.
Marc Goodman, a Comcast spokesman in Boston, said there is no connection between Medford’s selection for the pilot program and Verizon’s bid to get a cable TV license.
“This has been planned for months,’’ he said. “A variety of communities were chosen, based on size. Some are rural, some are urban, some are close to cities.’’
Goodman declined to disclose the number of Comcast customers in Medford.
“There are options for people, but we felt that it was important for consumers to have a choice for cable and Internet,’’ McGlynn said. “It took a lot of lobbying on our part.’’
In 2010, Verizon replaced copper wires with fiber optics in most city neighborhoods, except for an area near the Winchester town line. Work stopped after Verizon made a corporate decision to halt expansion of FiOS nationally, and dropped negotiations with communities, including Medford, McGlynn said.
McGlynn and city councilors still felt that cable competition was essential in the city of 56,000 people. He made a direct appeal to Robert Mudge, president of Consumer and Mass Business Markets at Verizon, to finish the job the company had already started in Medford.
“He listened to my concerns,’’ McGlynn said. “That’s when negotiations to at least offer FiOS to 71 percent of the community started.’’
