June 19 (Bloomberg) -- A bill that would allow Verizon Communications Inc. to sell television service throughout New Jersey, the company's third-largest market, was approved by the state Senate today and now gets sent to Governor Jon Corzine.

The Senate voted 31-5 to allow Verizon to apply for a statewide franchise with the Public Utilities Board instead of having to go to each of the 526 municipalities it serves and negotiate separate agreements to sell TV service.

The bill, in debate for more than two years, would let Verizon compete directly with New Jersey's largest TV providers, Comcast Corp. and Cablevision Systems Corp. New York-based Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telephone operator after AT&T Inc., has been laying fiber-optic cable through the state and the U.S. in order to deliver high-speed Internet and TV services.

Verizon Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg said today that he's confident Corzine will sign the bill.

``He's going to sign it,'' Seidenberg said in an interview from Verizon's Basking Ridge, New Jersey, offices today. Verizon has 2.5 million telephone customers in the state. New York and Pennsylvania are the company's No. 1 and No. 2 markets.

Corzine said last week that he favors cable competition in the state. Anthony Coley, a spokesman for the governor, wouldn't comment on whether Corzine would sign the bill, saying ``we will take the time to review it.''

Level Field

Cablevision officials want Corzine to force Verizon to offer service to more people in the state sooner than the bill requires.

``This bill does not extend the benefits of fair competition on a level playing field broadly enough,'' Cablevision spokesman Jim Maiella said in an e-mailed statement. ``Governor Corzine has an opportunity to further strengthen this legislation by requiring Verizon to offer its new services across much more of the state, and we hope he will do so.''

Comcast spokesman Patrick MacElroy said the bill addressed ``some of the concerns of the cable industry and our customers,'' including ``treating like services alike and not leaving neighborhoods behind.''

Shares of Verizon fell 37 cents to $32.17 at 4:02 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Bethpage, New York- based Cablevision fell 35 cents to $20.95. Comcast fell 47 cents to $32.32 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.

Verizon is spending an estimated $22 billion to lay fiber- optic cable in its 28-state market. The company will have about 100 local franchise agreements, covering 2 million homes, by the end of June, Virginia Ruesterholz, head of the company's domestic telecom division, said today in an interview.

New Jersey's local franchise format is time consuming, and Verizon has been unable to secure a single agreement, Verizon New Jersey President Dennis Bone said in an interview this month. Going to each county to negotiate a franchise will take a decade, Bone has said.

Corzine's approval would let Verizon sell TV service in parts of New Jersey by mid-November, Ruesterholz said.

To contact the reporter on this story: J. Kyle Foster in New York at kfoster2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 19, 2006 19:37 EDT