California granted its first state-wide video franchise to Verizon. I first wrote about this last October.

The company said it will announce later this month the communities where it will begin offering its FiOS television service. While Verizon is concentrated in the Northeast, they have been building a fiber network in Southern California and already offers TV service to 18 communities where local authorities had granted franchises.

California is the ninth state to change its laws to allow state-wide video licenses, replacing a patchwork system of local authorities. The other states are Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. Legislation is pending in 14 other states. Gee, maybe by the time that states have enacted enough of these laws to cover most of the U.S., our fearless leaders in Washington might get around to completing their national rules!

If you want to know more, here is an article in the WSJ.