Washington State politicos give FairPoint cable rights-of-way

County commissioners in Kittitas and Yakima, Wash., helped FairPoint Communications move one step closer to providing cable TV service by removing a potential roadblock to the company's construction plans.

FairPoint now has approval to use its existing lines and related equipment now attached to poles and other structures on the county's right of way.

This advances the effort which is expected to bring cable TV service to 17,000 FairPoint broadband and voice customers with non-customers in line for service as well sometime in the future.

The company is currently "in the construction and tech phase of the FairPoint digital TV project," corporate spokesperson Angelynne Beaudry told the local Daily Record-News. "In a few months we will be entering the marketing phase and by year's end we will be about to offer digital television service" in the company's service area.

FairPoint already delivers broadband, hone and television to residential, business and wholesale customers in lower Kittitas County and the Selah area, the newspaper said.

Most of the technical and equipment work has been done to get the system ready for cable TV expansion," FairPoint product manager Vicky Gronquist told the newspaper.

"We're constantly working to invest in the communities we serve," she said. "These investments let us upgrade our fiber optics and expand our coverage, even in rural areas that other companies often neglect."

For more:
- the Daily Record-News has this story

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