Verizon cable TV vote planned in Glen Cove

Glen Cove Mayor Reginald Spinello said Tuesday night that the city council will move ahead to vote on granting a second city cable TV franchise to Verizon to supplement Cablevision service.

The council held a hearing on the franchise application in November but never voted on it before Mayor Ralph Suozzi left office at the end of the year after losing to Spinello.

Spinello said it was good that the council had not voted because a check of the city charter showed that “when you’re voting for a new franchise you have to have a public notice for three consecutive weeks in the newspaper, and we did not do that.”

So he said starting Saturday the city will publish a legal notice for three weeks so the council can vote on a franchise for Verizon to provide FIOS fiber optic service to the city. Spinello said a vote could come at the March 11 meeting or at a special meeting.

If approved by the city, the franchise agreement would go to the state Public Service Commission for approval.

At the hearing, Verizon attorney Paul Trane told the council that his company has wired about 85 percent of the city with fiber-optic cable. He added that if the commission approves the franchise agreement, Verizon would start service immediately in areas already wired and then proceed to fill in the gaps.

Trane said Verizon will offer the same deal to the city as Cablevision — a 5 percent franchise fee on its customers.

Cablevision owns Newsday.