Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) has been invited to play in Peoria--at least for the next three months--while city officials and the MSO continue to work on a longer term deal. The Peoria City Council, which has been working on a long-term contract for the MSO, voted 6-2 to keep negotiating while at the same time understanding and resolving what City Councilman Timothy Riggenbach called "the frustration of citizens."
It's not like this is a new thing. Peoria has been without a long-term cable franchise agreement since 2006 when its 20-year deal with Insight Communications (now Comcast) expired. Since then, the two sides have been signing a series of short-term deals while opening the doors for competing companies to come in and do business.
Speaking of competing companies, Liverpool, England is the city that gave America the Beatles. Liverpool, N.Y., is now the city that's giving its citizens the chance to choose Verizon FiOS over incumbent Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC-WI) . Again, it was no easy matter. The city and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) negotiated the deal over the last 18 months.
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