The Joint Center and Comcast Corporation held a Technology Policy Forum entitled Broadband, the Economy, and Driving Adoption on September 24, 2012.

In recent years, there have been two developments in technology adoption that are in tension with one another. On the one hand, home broadband adoption has increased only modestly since 2009. On the other, there has been a very rapid increase the adoption of Smartphones. This development presents questions for policymakers and stakeholders interested in the digital divide, namely: Does the leveling off of home broadband adoption and accompanying growth in Smartphone adoption represent a substitution effect? That is, are those without broadband at home simply turning to Smartphones instead and, if so, how does their Internet use relate to that of broadband users? Understanding the answers to these questions will be important to policymakers and those in the private sector interested in closing technology access gaps. To address the questions, this paper will rely on data drawn from a statewide telephone survey of Illinois residents fielded in February-March of 2012. The survey explored in detail how people get online (e.g., home broadband, tablets, Smartphones), what online activities they do (e.g., information searches, shopping, educational uses), and how they view the usefulness of different access means for carrying out tasks online.

FCC chairman Julius Genachowski praised Comcast Sept. 24 for a program that provided low-income Americans with discounted broadband service.

The program, Internet Essentials, originally targeted 2 million families that qualify for the free school lunch program to receive broadband service for $9.95 per month, $150 personal computers and digital literacy training. Early this year, Comcast expanded the program to 300,000 additional families that receive reduced price school lunches and doubled the speed of broadband service offered. Since launching the program in 2011, 400,000 families have taken advantage of Internet Essentials.

“I commend Comcast for stepping up its original commitment,” said Genachowski.

In remarks given at the Comcast Internet Essentials Event, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, in Washington, D.C., the chairman said it is important for eligible families to sign up for programs like Internet Essentials because being online “is essential to full participation in our 21st century economy.”

Read more at Broadcast Engineering.

WASHINGTON, DC – The importance of broadband Internet access to participation in the American economy and strategies for connecting the underserved were discussed Monday at a forum held by Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Comcast Corporation in Washington, DC.

At the event, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, emphasized the growing necessity of broadband as the United States shifts to a digital economy. While most American families report having broadband at home, many low-income families who lack Internet access are in danger of falling even further behind, both economically and socially.

“It is critical to our economy and to our global competitiveness that all Americans can adopt high-speed Internet at home,” said Chairman Genachowski.  “Thanks to the Joint Center’s valuable research, we have a better understanding of how to close the digital divide.  And thanks to efforts like Internet Essentials and Connect2Compete, hundreds of thousands of Americans can now take advantage of the benefits of home broadband for the first time, with many more to come.  That’s good news for these Americans and good news for our country.”

Download the full press release below.

As the world grows increasingly digital, broadband adoption is becoming more crucial to the success of the American economy and the nation’s future.  While recent studies report that two-thirds of American homes have broadband, many low-income families lack computers and connectivity. Without this technology, these families are at risk of falling even further behind, both socially and financially.

Potential solutions to this digital gap are being explored. One such initiative is Comcast Corporation’s Internet Essentials program, which provides low-cost hardware, broadband, and technology training to families with children eligible for free or reduced-price school lunch through the National School Lunch Program. Can Internet Essentials and other, similar programs close the digital divide for good?

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Media and Technology Institute and Comcast Corporation invite you to a technology policy forum with featured speaker, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, and a panel of broadband industry leaders and policy experts for a discussion on the new, digital American economy, technological disparities, and the initiatives working to connect the country.

Space is limited. To RSVP, email BroadbandAdoption@jointcenter.org.

Does anyone remember when the Obama administration promised to bring “true broadband [to] every community in America”? The Republican Party definitely does, and its 2012 platform criticizes the president for not making any progress on this pledge:

“The current Administration has been frozen in the past…. It inherited from the previous Republican Administration 95 percent coverage of the nation with broadband. It will leave office with no progress toward the goal of universal coverage—after spending $7.2 billion more. That hurts rural America, where farmers, ranchers, and small business manufacturers need connectivity to expand their customer base and operate in real time with the world’s producers.

So whatever happened to the Obama administration’s plan to expand broadband access, anyway? In one sense, the Republican critics are right. Universal broadband is still far from a reality. According to the Federal Communications Commission’s annual broadband report, released in August, there are still 19 million Americans who lack access to wired broadband. Only about 94 percent of households have broadband access. Obama hasn’t achieved his goal.

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“Getting to 100 percent is going to be a very difficult long-term goal, given the size of the U.S. landmass and the huge expense to reach those final couple of percentage points,” says John Horrigan of the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute. The same goes for increasing the adoption rate. “We’re not going to close that gap in five years.” Anyone hoping for universal broadband access in the near future might end up disappointed. But shorter-term upgrades are possible—and, indeed, appear to be happening.

Read more at The Washington Post.

Joint Center President and CEO Ralph Everett submitted a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates to express his concern about the lack of journalists of color serving as moderators for the 2012 presidential debates.

"I write to express the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' deep concern that the Commission on Presidential Debates has not selected any journalists of color to moderate any of the presidential debates being broadcast this election season," he writes. "We respectfully ask the Commission to reconsider its approach for selecting moderators."

He also writes, "We also ask that the Commission take measures to remedy this oversight by adding more debates to the calendar. As such, we ask it to reconsider its decision to deny Univision’s request for a forum to be hosted by two of the nation’s most respected journalists--Jorge and Maria Elena. We further ask the Commission to pursue similar initiatives with other media outlets boasting large audiences of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and other people of color."

To read the full letter, click the download icon below.

In advance of the November election, Univision Communications and a civil rights group stepped up a campaign to create an additional forum for presidential candidates to address issues important to Latinos and African Americans — and to get a person of color into the presidential debate schedule.

This week, the Commission on Presidential Debates selected Jim Lehrer of PBS News Hour, Bob Schieffer of CBS News, Candy Crowley of CNN and Martha Raddatz of ABC News as moderators for this fall's debates among candidates for president and vice president.

"It has long been the practice of the television industry to avoid putting people of color in front of the camera for fear of running afoul of ... mass market concerns," Ralph B. Everett, chief executive of the civil rights group Joint Center for Political and Economic Studios, wrote in a letter Thursday to Janet H. Brown, executive director on the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.