Marblehead clearing way for Verizon

MARBLEHEAD – Come this summer, Marblehead cable customers could have a choice.Selectmen and the Cable Oversight Committee are paving the way for Verizon to compete for cable customers with Comcast.Committee representatives Paul Rabin and Ron Olson told the board last week that negotiations have been completed with Verizon and the licenses are being prepared. The committee asked to appear before the selectmen March 25 to have the licenses signed. Representatives of Verizon and the town counsel will be present and Rabin said if the contract is signed by the end of the month Verizon could be offering service by early summer.Olson reviewed the bylaws for the Marblehead Community Access and Media, Inc., an independent non-profit corporation that will oversee local public access programming for the town.Olson, a Lafayette Street resident who helped organize Salem’s public access studio and has his name on a plaque in the studio to prove it, said the bylaws establish a board of directors for the corporation. Three directors will be appointed by the selectmen and two more will be appointed by the committee, and if the directors find it necessary they can expand to six or seven members.Olson predicted that Marblehead local access will be able to fill the three channels available to it, instead of the one channel they presently use, and the town can swap local programming back and forth with other communities when they deem it appropriate."Once this gets established it will be self-perpetuating," Olson said. "The good news is, there are a lot of existing (corporations like this) and they talk to each other."Selectmen approved the bylaws.The committee negotiated a plan setting up the corporation. Comcast wanted to stop providing local access and agreed to pay the corporation $225,000 a year for the next two years, the remainder of Comcast’s current contract. That includes $113,000 a year for personnel and $112,000 for operating costs. Comcast will make the payments quarterly, beginning April 15. Verizon was aware of the proposal and favored it.