Comcast

Comcast announced it is significantly expanding eligibility for its broadband adoption program Internet Essentials to include all qualified low-income households in its service area. Comcast estimates that more than three million additional low-income households, including households with people with disabilities, are now eligible to apply. It estimates a total of nearly seven million households now have access to low-cost Internet service, which literally doubles the total number of previously eligible households. 

Comcast Corporation announced that Beth Choroser has been promoted to Vice President, Regulatory Affairs in Washington (DC). Choroser will direct Comcast’s advocacy on regulatory matters affecting broadband, voice, public safety and security with a primary focus on the Federal Communications Commission. Choroser will be based in Comcast’s Washington, DC office and is replacing Mary McManus who is retiring at the end of Oct. Choroser previously served as Executive Director of Regulatory Affairs for Comcast Corporation in Philadelphia supporting the business, the regulatory law department and government affairs on a wide range of federal and state telecom matters. Prior to Comcast, Choroser worked at Kulicke and Soffa Industries Inc., ATX Telecommunications Service and New England Electric System. Choroser follows in the steps of Mary McManus, a well-known and highly regarded telecom lawyer who has served as one of the Comcast’s senior regulatory advocates before the FCC for the last 10 years. Choroser received a BA from Pennsylvania State University and a MBA from Syracuse University School of Management.

According to a five-year progress report, Comcast’s acclaimed Internet Essentials program has helped connect 750,000 families, or 3 million low-income Americans, to low-cost, high-speed Internet service at home. David L. Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer of Comcast Corporation, made the announcement alongside six-time Olympic Medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who was recently named the national spokesperson for Internet Essentials. The two kicked off a multi-city tour that, over the next six weeks, will stop in Chicago (IL), Houston (TX), San Francisco (CA), Denver (CO), and Philadelphia (PA) where the company will announce more than $2 million in grants to community-based organizations that provide vital digital literacy training and Internet access.

On July 15, the Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro, and I announced a significant, national effort to help close the digital divide for low-income Americans. Now, public housing and HUD-assisted residents who live in Comcast’s service area will be eligible to apply for Internet Essentials, the company’s acclaimed, high-speed Internet adoption program for low-income families.

Including homes covered by Comcast’s public housing expansion pilot announced in March, an estimated total of up to 2 million HUD-assisted homes, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and Multifamily programs, will now have access to low-cost Internet service. According to HUD, this number is also more than 40 percent of all HUD-assisted households nationwide. The announcement is an official policy change that marks the first time in the history of the program, outside of some pilot markets, that adults without a child eligible for the National School Lunch Program will be eligible to apply for Internet Essentials. This means veterans living in HUD-assisted homes who are transitioning from combat into the workforce will now be able to sign up for low-cost Internet, so they can use it to search and apply for jobs. It means senior citizens will be able to access the Internet from the comfort of their HUD-assisted homes to do the things many of us often take for granted, such as sharing photos with loved ones, communicating via video chat, paying bills, and following the news. Finally, it means adults without children living in HUD-assisted homes can get online and access a wide range of opportunities, from accessing educational resources to healthcare information.

Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable will bring numerous public interest benefits to millions of residential and commercial customers, from faster Internet speeds and greater programming diversity, to next-generation TV, more robust Wi-Fi, more advertising choices and competition, low-cost Internet through our acclaimed Internet Essentials program, and the ability to better serve business customers big and small with innovative products and services tailored to their needs.

We believe this is an approvable transaction and we expect to agree with regulators on conditions that will further enhance the public interest while not being unduly burdensome on our business or consumers.

We are gratified by the outpouring of thoughtful and positive comments from a wide range of supporters of the transaction that have already been submitted for the record, more than 200 already, including business development and community organizations, diversity groups, advertisers, programmers, schools and universities, policy makers, and other prominent individuals that this transaction is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strongly in the public interest.