Comcast program helps close the "digital divide"

Comcast says 5,700 low-income families in the Philadelphia area are now participating in a discounted Internet service the cable giant agreed to offer as part of its merger with NBCUniversal.

Throughout the nation, 150,000 families have gone online with the program, Comcast said. The service costs $9.95 a month, and participants can buy computers for $150. Comcast says 15,000 customers have bought them. Internet Essentials is available to parents with children who qualify for the federal free-lunch program, though families with past-due Comcast bills may not participate. Comcast says the program, launched in August 2011, can help close the "digital divide," the gap between low-income children who do not have access to the Internet and middle-class and well-off children who do. Comcast is the nation's largest residential-Internet provider, with about 19 million broadband customers.