New York City Comptroller John Liu said Verizon has agreed to pay the city $1.4 million in additional fees to the city after an
Verizon must pay the city a franchise fee of 5% of gross revenue as part of its agreement to deliver cable service citywide. The 12-year non-exclusive agreement, through the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, began in 2008.
"I'm pleased that Verizon has agreed to pay up," said Liu, whose four-year term will end Dec. 31.
The audit found that from July 2008 to June 2013, Verizon understated advertising revenue on its quarterly reports to the city by about $28.2 million, resulting in underpayment of $1.41 million in franchise fees owed.
Specifically, the audit found that Verizon understated $17.1 million in advertising commissions that it should have included in gross revenue and did not report $11.1 million in foregone revenue from the value of advertising retained for its own use.
