Verizon has begun offering cable services to residents of the Village of Massapequa Park. In addition, a recent ruling by a New York State Supreme Court judge allows the company to move forward without the threat of a lawsuit hanging over it.

State Supreme Court Judge Anthony Parga claimed that the Massapequa Park Board of Trustees only wanted to bring "competition" to the process of choosing cable services among village residents.

The lawsuit, which was brought by Cablevision, claimed that Verizon both denied Cablevision due process, while also violating New York State open meeting laws when the Verizon offer was under consideration. In September 2005, the BOT passed a resolution in support of the Verizon offer.

"Verizon is delighted with the victory in this case," said Verizon spokesman Cliff Lee. "This sends a resounding message to other communities where Verizon is working to obtain franchises -- that New York law is on our side, on the side of the communities and, most importantly, on the side of choice for the consumers."

In January, Verizon unveiled its FiOS TV service to Massapequa Park residents. The village became the first municipality in all of New York to feature the new service. According to Verizon officials, FiOS TV is delivered over Verizon's fiber-to-the premises (FTTP) network. It also delivers Internet download speeds of up to 30 Mbps (megabits per second) and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps as well as high-quality voice services.

Massapequa Park-area customers can call 1-800-880-2943 to see if they're able to order FiOS TV.