Om is quoting a study on Verizon FiOS in the wild and came away with a starling realization: fiber optics will probably tear cable Internet and TV a new poop hole. Although only a few places have FiOS now, when Verizon rolled it out in Massachusetts:

Comcast lost 5,216 subscribers across a base of 204,160, a drop of 2.6%.

RCN lost 1,813 subscribers, or 7% off its base of 25,895 subscribers.

While that’s not earth-shattering, it does mean that someone out there knows a good thing when they see it. Hrm… maybe a little FiOS in Brooklyn? Nah… just checked. No FiOS in Bay Ridge.

Study [via GigaOm]