U.S. Cable Industry Announces New “K-12 Bridge to Broadband” Initiative

NCTA – the Internet & Television Association, in partnership with EducationSuperHighway (ESH), announced a new initiative to help increase home connectivity solutions for students, as many schools adapt to remote and hybrid learning classrooms amid the coronavirus pandemic. The K-12 Bridge to Broadband initiative will scale innovative solutions that are helping public school districts and states identify and potentially connect students in low-income families, enabling more students to participate in remote or hybrid learning. The core principles reflected in the K-12 Bridge to Broadband framework released today by EducationSuperHighway and NCTA include:

• NCTA member companies will create a “sponsored” service offering for school districts or other entities — school systems purchase broadband on behalf of low-income students at a discounted rate provided by broadband service providers.
• NCTA member companies will work together with school districts to facilitate the confidential exchange of information to identify which students need service.
• NCTA member companies will agree to a baseline set of eligibility standards. At a minimum, the baseline standards will include households containing students on the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program.
• To maximize adoption, NCTA member companies will minimize the amount of information necessary to sign up families. In a sponsored service program, providers should limit the data they require from families only to that required for providing service (i.e. confirming the service address) and reducing fraud (i.e. proof of identity).
• NCTA member companies offering sponsored service arrangements to schools should not use school-supplied information for targeted marketing of collateral services to families covered by the program.

Cable broadband providers that have committed to this unique initiative include Comcast (Xfinity), Charter (Spectrum), Cox, GCI, Mediacom, Midco, Sjoberg’s and Vyve. These providers offer broadband service to 80% of U.S. homes or 110 million housing units.