U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Garbis on Tuesday ordered Montgomery County and Verizon to work together through a court-appointed mediator to see whether they can come to an agreement over providing cable service to residents, Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said.
Verizon filed the antitrust lawsuit in June. It contends that the county has made numerous unlawful demands during a year of negotiations, including that Verizon set aside 65 channels for public, educational and government programming, although the county only has 11 such channels.
It also contends that the county is demanding Verizon pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to cover fees the county owes to private consultants and attorneys.
Meanwhile, county officials accused the company of failing to play by the same rules as other companies and said it had failed to file the appropriate application in order to begin to provide service.
The county told Verizon to wait until they reached an agreement, Mitchell said. Verizon will file the application and resume negotiations on a “parallel track,” Mitchell said,
“The judge?s decision to order a rapid negotiation, mediated by a magistratejudge, should break through the logjam and move the process forward,” Mitchell said. “We?re eager to work with the court-appointed mediator to reach a lawful agreement with the county.”
