The National Broadband Plan has put the spotlight squarely on getting broadband service to the roughly 35% of U.S. households that don’t subscribe.  I don’t think anyone can disagree with this overarching goal, and it’s clear that it will take a multi-pronged approach to bridge this gap.

The good news is that we have significant research which shows why these households haven’t yet subscribed.  In some cases, challenges in reaching these homes have been facilities-based – finding new and innovative ways of getting broadband service to rural and remote areas.

But in many other cases, as Pew Research and other firms have pointed out, the challenges involve “barriers to adoption,” namely, the availability of affordable computers, digital and technical literacy, an understanding of the relevance of broadband service, or the ability to afford the service itself (For further details, see the FCC paper entitled "Broadband Adoption and Use in America.").

We’ve been concerned about these issues for a long time.  Cable ISPs have invested heavily in building out their networks, making broadband service available to 92% of American households.  We’ve also focused on elements of digital literacy to help families better understand how to manage the content coming into their homes.  And, we are sensitive to the affordability of broadband service.  Many cable ISPs have established tiers of broadband service which allow subscribers to buy whatever level of service makes the most sense for them.

Broadband access for the two-thirds of American households that have it wouldn’t have been possible without the leadership of the private sector.  So we strongly agree with the Plan that one of the best ways to help connect more homes is through partnerships in which both the government and private industry bring something to the table.

Last December, after consultation with federal policy makers and other stakeholders, we proposed the Adoption Plus (“A+”) initiative.  A+ is a proposed two-year, public-private partnership.  It’s designed to promote sustainable broadband adoption for a vitally important population, middle school-aged children in low income households that don’t currently subscribe to broadband service.  Under the proposal, cable ISPs are prepared to offer deeply discounted broadband service and equipment, in partnership with schools, companies, and digital literacy groups that could help provide – to households where students qualify for free or reduced school meals – a package of affordable hardware and software, and training in digital literacy (See more in this previous post.).

Our strong interest in this kind of collaborative approach is why we’re happy to participate in a new pilot program that includes broadband ISPs, computer technology companies, nonprofits and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help bring broadband service to low-income homes around the country.

Under the leadership of One Economy, a global nonprofit committed to stimulating broadband adoption efforts in the neediest households, several parties have jointly filed an application to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration for funding through the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.  The coalition will work with HUD to increase broadband adoption efforts in public housing and multi-family assisted communities. If the stimulus application is approved, federal funding – combined with actual and in-kind contributions from the various members of the coalition – would help bring broadband service to families in up to 250,000 government-supported housing units nationwide.  This target group encompasses many of the same families we propose to reach with the Adoption Plus proposal.

The coalition built around this HUD initiative comprises a unique collection of seemingly strange bedfellows.  There are the non-profits – One Economy and Connected Nation.  There are the hardware and software manufacturers – Intel, Dell, and Microsoft.  Telco ISP AT&T is involved in supporting the application, as are 14 of our member companies – BendBroadband; Bresnan Communications; Bright House Networks; Cablevision Systems Corp.; Charter Communications; Comcast; Cox Communications; Eagle Communications, Inc.; Mediacom Communications Corp.; Midcontinent Communications; Sjoberg’s Cable TV; Suddenlink Communications; Time Warner Cable; and US Cable Group, covering some 85%  of households across the country. Two trade associations – NCTA and USTelecom – also are in the mix.

The concept is simple.  Each entity involved in the initiative plays to its strengths in helping low-income families overcome barriers to adoption.  HUD will identify eligible households for the service.  The computer companies provide affordable hardware – which would be partly subsidized by the stimulus funding – and software, to help make families broadband-ready.  The nonprofits then provide training in digital skills and literacy, to families that are new to broadband.  And once these pieces are in place, the ISPs would offer deep discounts on broadband service, reduced-price or free modems, and free standard installation.

If you have read the Broadband Plan or its executive summary, the rationale behind this coalition may sound familiar.  The Plan highlighted the importance of creating, “public-private partnerships of hardware manufacturers, software companies, broadband service providers, and digital literacy training partners to improve broadband adoption and utilization by working with federal agencies already serving non-adopting communities.”

We think that with the formation of this coalition, and our ongoing efforts around Adoption Plus, we have hit the mark.

Today we are announcing the next step in our industry’s longstanding commitment to use our technologies to improve education in America. We’re proposing a two-year public-private pilot program called Adoption Plus (A+) which could bring broadband to millions of children in low-income households.

Twenty years ago, our industry founded Cable in the Classroom (CIC), which over the past decade has brought free broadband service to thousands of schools and community libraries.

In recent years, our industry has also focused on the digital divide and how to promote broadband adoption.  Cox Communications, for example, has participated in a widely praised program in Santa Barbara, California, in which it provides discounted broadband service to children who participate in the National School Lunch program, together with partners who provide discounted or free computers.

Even though broadband is available to more than 90% of the households in the United States, almost one-third of those households don’t take the service.  Why?  Well, recent studies by the Pew Research Center demonstrate there is no single reason, and some of the multiple reasons – such as understanding the relevance of broadband, digital literacy, computer ownership, and affordability – likely overlap.

Several months ago, with the strong encouragement of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, we started working with the FCC’s broadband team to explore how we might help.  They were critical to helping with the data necessary to determine how to really focus in on a concept that could provide the maximum benefit.  Chairman Genachowski and Blair Levin, Executive Director of the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative, were very supportive of developing a proposal that would help low-income households that do not currently receive broadband.

The A+ pilot program builds on the experience of Cox Communications’ Santa Barbara initiative, by proposing a two-year, public-private partnership designed to promote sustainable broadband adoption for a vitally important-but-vulnerable population – middle school-aged children in low income households that do not currently receive broadband service.  The program is called Adoption Plus because it is a comprehensive approach that treats broadband adoption as a multi-faceted problem that requires multi-faceted solutions.  Barriers to adoption – e.g., relevance, digital literacy, computer ownership, affordability – are interwoven and cannot be resolved in isolation.

The goal of the A+ program is to help give millions of students the opportunity to become digital citizens of the 21st Century by driving sustainable broadband adoption and positively and materially affecting educational outcomes.

Here is how it would work (a more detailed summary can be found at NCTA’s website):

• A+ would promote the adoption of broadband service to households that do not currently receive it, by offering comprehensive digital media literacy education, discounted computers, and discounted home broadband service to households representing up to 3.5 million American children in grades 6 through 9 who are eligible to receive a free or reduced-cost meal through the National School Lunch Program.
• We propose that school districts administer the program, apply for federal funding, and partner with non-profit corporations promoting digital media literacy, computer manufacturers and/or retailers, and cable and other broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
• Perhaps the most important role of the school districts is to implement digital media literacy programs, including online safety training, and training on how to use computers and broadband.  Including administration costs, we recommend that $100 million of federal funding be used for school districts which apply to set up an A+ program.
• We also anticipate that computer manufacturers would supply discounted computers as partners in A+, but ask the government to consider whether and to what extent federal funding is appropriate to help further discount the cost of computers.
• For each eligible household, participating ISPs would provide free installation of broadband service; a 50 percent discount off the monthly subscription cost of their entry level broadband service; and a 50 percent discount off the cost of modem equipment, whether purchased or rented.
• It is important to note that, while we recommend federal funding for digital media literacy training and administration of this program by school districts, we are not seeking any government funding of the ISPs’ contribution to A+.

While the A+ program is open to other broadband ISPs who wish to participate, so far, all of the cable ISPs represented on NCTA’s Board of Directors have agreed to participate in the A+ program as outlined above.  Those companies also have committed to air public service announcements explaining and promoting local A+ programs.  We estimate the value of the cable ISP contribution to the A+ program, with full student participation, at well over $500 million.

Our industry will continue to creatively harness the power of technology, including broadband, for educational purposes in other ways as well.

For example, A&E Television Networks, through HISTORY, has partnered with more than a dozen major cable operators around the country in creating Take a Veteran to School Day, where veterans are welcomed into local schools for special assemblies and oral history projects – a program that was recognized by President Obama at the White House just a few weeks ago.  And Viacom has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the Get Schooled initiative to identify effective approaches to increase high school and college graduation rates, improve post secondary readiness and promote the fundamental importance of education.

With the nation’s new emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, major cable companies have stepped up with new commitments, such as the $100 million Connect a Million Minds initiative launched in November by Time Warner Cable, to introduce young people to opportunities and resources that inspire them to develop the STEM skills that will help solve our economic, environmental, and community challenges of the future. Discovery Communications is supporting STEM education by offering a commercial-free programming block for middle schoolers on the Science Channel, and through Discovery Education, which will provide STEM Connect, a new broadband delivered curriculum-based career development resource helping students link their science, math, engineering and technology education to their future careers. President Obama recently recognized both Time Warner Cable and Discovery in a White House announcement on STEM initiatives.    Earlier this year, Comcast teamed with One Economy to launch the Comcast Digital Connectors program in more than 20 markets nationwide, an initiative designed to teach broadband technologies to young people ages 14-21 from diverse, low-income backgrounds, who then put that knowledge to work in their local communities.

And Cablevision offers teachers important tools for using broadband and interactive technology as part of its Power to Learn program.

There are many other examples of creative initiatives that recognize how broadband can positively affect education of America’s children.  What they have in common is an understanding that partnerships and collaboration among interested stakeholders is required for success.  A+ is an ambitious step forward in this tradition, and we look forward to working with interested government agencies and other stakeholders to make it a reality.

For the next two days Paul and I will be Tweeting, blogging, and otherwise chattering about the annual Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in NYC. PDF is the premier event for dicsussion of online politics and Cable is a proud sponsor. Cable’s James Assey will be participating on a panel this afternoon focused on the state of US broadband and the Obama Administration’s goals to get every American connected. He’ll share the stage with Josh Silver from Free Press, Hank Hultquist of AT&T, and Blair Levin from the FCC.

PDF explores how we, as a society, are changing the way we interact with issue advocacy and candidate campaigns as well as our governemnt.

If you’re interested, use Twitter Search to follow the discussion.  You can find a full program and schedule for the panels at PersonalDemocracy.com

As we’ve said previously, the cable industry has spent the last few weeks gearing up for today’s culmination of the DTV transition.  And at midday Friday, the transition itself seemed relatively uneventful.  It’s an interesting day in that there’s a “rolling” transition underway, across four time zones.

If you put aside time zones and look just at “dayparts,” here are the number of stations and time of day they told the FCC they would switch off their analog signals:

• midnight to 6:00 a.m. –   186 stations
• 6 a.m. to 12 noon – 239stations
• 12 noon to 6:00 p.m. -  155 stations
• 6 p.m. to midnight – 391 stations

All things considered, the turn-off of analog seems to be going as well as could be hoped. Cable personnel in the field have reported technical issues for about 15 broadcast stations, in markets within states including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, and West Virginia.

In most of these cases, the issues involved broadcast signals temporarily going off the air – where analog has been turned off but for some reason the digital transmission has failed. We think there has been only a minimal impact on cable subscribers. In some cases, the same broadcast stations are delivering their signals to cable “headends” through a fiber line, so even if there’s a problem with over the air transmission, the station’s signal is still getting to cable subscribers. In cases in which signals have gone down, but where that fiber feed may not be available, cable customers along with over the air viewers have temporarily lost access to those broadcast signals.

Broadcast and cable engineers have been quick to pounce on those problems, however, and most of them have been resolved in a matter of hours.

We’re keeping a close eye on the situation through a contingent of dozens of cable executives at corporate and field-based locations.  Cable execs are trading email updates with an extensive list of colleagues around the country.  Those same people are jumping on conference calls once a day to compare notes.  We are talking regularly with FCC officials, both by email and conference calls.  And we’re regularly exchanging information with our counterparts at trade associations representing broadcasters and consumer electronics manufacturers.

That same regimen will be up and running through the course of the weekend as well, so we’ll continue to post on developments as they occur.  We’d be interested in knowing any of your experiences as well, so please comment away.

When the first group of 600+ over the air stations made the transition from analog to digital broadcast in February, their transition was met with relatively few, and entirely manageable complaints.

In exactly one week, the rest of the nation’s full power, OTA stations will make complete the transition, capping an effort that began many years ago.  The transition has not been without its challenges, but it represents the culmination of a lot of hard work by broadcasters, consumer electronics companies, subscription television services, and government at every level.  Cable, for its part, has contributed hundreds of millions in advertising to educate consumers on about the transition and so they will continue receiving signals next week.

We have also coordinated efforts between cable engineers and MSTV – the group representing broadcast engineers – to limit any technical problems.  That effort began over a year ago and identified issues early on that might have impacted the transition.  When the first stations moved from analog to digital in February, NCTA Science & Technology office  staffed a “war room” to give cable engineers an opportunity to report on activities in the field. We exchanged information with MSTV to address issues as they arose and in virtually all of such cases, the impact on cable carriage of the broadcast signal in question was minimal, with any problems being resolved in a matter of hours.

In addition, as Kyle McSlarrow noted Wednesday in his remarks before the FCC, cable also initially organized the DTV call center operation and contributed significant sums in cash grants to community groups to educate their constituents or assist them.  In addition, we placed tens of thousands of dollars in advertisements to reach at-risk groups with information.

Cable has gone beyond the call to ensure every American, not just our customers, is aware of, and is ready for transition.  We did this because we realize the transition is an important milestone for our country and we want it to be a success.  Our industry has worked tirelessly and with every level of government to guarantee that next week’s switch goes as smoothly as possible.

Should you, or anyone you know have questions or concerns about the switch, call 1-888-CALLFCC (1-888-225-5322).  The DTV hotline will be able to assist you.