Ch 7, the News Station

[Anthony Abruzzese]

RCN had wired as far as Burlington, out my way. They had plans to come into Billerica, but scrapped those plans when they filed for bankruptcy.

 

As far as Boston is concerned, Comcast opened the door for competition when they started whining that it was too expensive (i.e. not enough ROI) to wire certain parts of the city  proper (no utility poles, underground wiring, retro-fitting multi-owner multi-unit apartment & condos), including parts of Hyde Park, West Roxbury, and the Back Bay. RCN said that they would cover those parts of the city if they could get into all of the city with a second franchise, IIRC. My aunt & uncle were among the first to get RCN in their section of West Roxbury when it became available. There are still parts of Boston where there is only one provider for Cable TV and Internet service available.

 

Just looking at the market, RCN may be bolstering their infrastructure as a measure to block FiOS from gaining a third franchise for Cable TV and Internet service in the city. Verizon’s Fiber is the backbone of all of their services. There is no reason that they shouldn’t be able to provide FiOS service to the city, other than the fact that the local cable commission has not authorized Verizon to provide Cable TV and Internet service through a franchise agreement, and that there may not be a customer base to support three cable TV suppliers in the city.

 

As far as actual customers, I know of 3 or 4 in Burlington. We would have switched if they came to Billerica. In Brookline, about a third of the faculty in my former department at BU got RCN when it rolled out there.

 

 

 

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Tony Abruzzese

Educational Technologist – Healthcare Emergency Management

Dept of Anatomy & Neurobiology

Boston University School of Medicine

650 Albany Street, Rm. 140

Boston, MA 02118

v: 617-638-5092

email: abruzzes@bu.edu

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From: Boston-Radio-Interest <boston-radio-interest-bounces@lists.BostonRadio.org> on behalf of Sean Smyth <ssmyth@alumni.psu.edu>
Date: Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 12:01 AM
To: A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com>
Cc: "boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org" <boston-radio-interest@lists.bostonradio.org>
Subject: Re: Ch 7, the News Station

 

On Thursday, August 18, 2016, A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com> wrote:

 

Brookline has both Comcast and RCN.  I think RCN is also in Somerville.

Maybe other places as well.

 

 

I meant customer wise. I can't think of one person I know who has RCN. Very

unscientific, of course. I know RCN is making a renewed push in Boston and

is wiring more of the city (e.g. South Boston), but it's  20 years too

late.

 

 

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