Showdown on Long Island

Verizon Communications and Cablevision are duking it out on Long Island.

According to The Wall Street Journal and Business Week, which each published stories on Wednesday detailing the ongoing brawl in Massapequa Park, N.Y., things are getting pretty nasty.

It seems the companies are butting heads over Verizon's attempts to get video franchises in areas where Cablevision offers its service. According to the articles, Cablevision has launched a major smear campaign complete with newspaper advertisements and anti-Verizon flyers distributed throughout the town. The articles also say Cablevision has been throwing its weight around by bullying local officials, including the mayor. Cablevision has also filed a lawsuit against the city, which has made its way to the New York state Supreme Court.

Verizon is offering its new TV service to customers in areas where it has already built its new Fios fiber network. Verizon is spending billions of dollars to build the network that extends fiber directly into people's homes, giving them almost unlimited bandwidth capacity. Cablevision and other cable operators have accused Verizon of only providing the new Fios services in wealthy areas, ignoring low-income neighborhoods. Verizon has repeatedly denied these claims.

Long Island isn't the only place where cable companies are putting up a fight. Battles are also heating up in Northern Virginia, where Verizon recently began offering Fios TV service.