Berkshire Eagle

For the last decade in Western Massachusetts, closing the digital divide meant getting fiber, cable, or wireless service to every address.

As COVID-19 has shifted life online, residents of towns like Monterey (MA) — they lack internet at home — have had to drive to public Wi-Fi hot spots to stay connected. Disparities in internet access took center stage during the Aug. 18 Massachusetts US Senate debate between incumbent Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and his challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA).

By a 3-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission has put limits on cable franchise fees, with the FCC's three Republicans voting in favor. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal appears to have come from Eugene's (OR) attempt to charge Comcast with a 7 percent franchise fee. It's unfortunate that Eugene opened this Pandora's Box but one community's misguided decision to break the agreement is not an excuse to end it. The FCC commissioner may have been waiting for an opportunity he could exploit to change the ground rules.

In an innocuous-sounding "rule change" to the Communications Act of 1984, the Federal Communications Commission would allow cable providers to deduct "in-kind" services from a local franchise fee to municipalities required by the Act, specifically a maximum five-percent levy on gross revenues. "In kind" is currently a term without a clear definition, and in a particularly diabolical twist, the FCC plans to leave it to the cable companies to determine the monetary value of such nebulous services (and exactly what those services are) before deducting that value from their mandated fee.

Phone calls are sometimes the only comfort for families who live far from the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center, run by the Hampden County Sheriff's Department, where prisoners are held both before trial and while serving sentences. But the calls are costly because they must be made through an outside company — much more costly than for people outside jails. Calls at the jail cost 12 cents per minute.

Windsor's (MA) go-to broadband leader, Doug McNally, found himself sitting this past week with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai. Not long after the introductions, Chairman Pai quoted a word McNally used to describe the impact of a newly won FCC grant. "Lifesaver," McNally had said. This past week, the former educator and current Select Board member added another description of the $886,172 grant his small Berkshire County town will receive in installments over the next decade: "Game changer."