In exchange for obtaining a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” This means that it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license. In addition, how other media facilitate community discussions.
Localism
New York City Tries to Even Out Access to Wireless Networks
Companies hunting for space to place wireless equipment in New York City snapped up the rights to street lamps and traffic lights dotting Fifth Avenue in the heart of Manhattan in 2013. They didn’t stake claims to large clusters of sites in less affluent areas until three years later. City officials are now trying to change that trend, pushing companies that lease public space for telecom-equipment installations to move more aggressively beyond the city’s core, to improve wireless services more quickly for a broader swath of residents.
Mayors or the FCC: Who understands the broadband needs of metropolitan residents?
Who would Americans trust to best understand the broadband-related interests of the residents of a city: its mayor, or the head of the Federal Communications Commission? About twice as many Americans have a positive view of their local government than they do the federal government. Americans would be right in trusting mayors more than federal officials.
The coming digital divide: What to do, and not do, about it
The economic reality of varied broadband deployments is that communities with the fastest speeds are most likely to benefit from competition among providers, which further pushes prices down. Thus, we soon will have a divide in which certain dense and high-income communities will have multiple choices for affordable gigabit services, while less dense, lower-income communities may still be stuck with a DSL offering that is 100 times slower but similarly priced.
Mayors Eye Two-Pronged Attack on FCC’s Preemptive 5G Order
Mayors expressed optimism a new House bill could provide an alternative path to overturning a Federal Communications Commission order preempting local authority over fifth-generation wireless deployments. H.R. 530, authored by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), would undo rules that went into partial effect on Jan. 14 requiring cities to move on wireless providers’ small cell applications within set timeframes while capping fees to access public rights of way.
Chairmen Pallone and Doyle Question FCC on Potential Effort to Game Judicial Lottery
House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr.
Rural Americans Are Rebooting the Spirit of the Internet
Today there are nearly 900 rural co-ops still providing their communities with electricity. A DIY success story! Now history repeats itself—with broadband. Thirty-nine percent of rural Americans had no access to home broadband in 2016 (compared with 4 percent of folks in urban areas), because big telcos say it’s too expensive to build affordable fiber-optic broadband in the countryside. Residents have to make do with dialup or Wi-Fi from a library. So co-ops are solving the problem again.
Cities (and States) are Doing it for Themselves
No matter who you voted for or what party you belong to, I think we can agree on one thing - access to high-speed broadband is one of the most important issues in the US today. In Congressional race after Congressional race, in Maine, Vermont, Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, Michigan, and New Mexico, just to name a few, voters said that broadband access was a top three issue, sometimes coming after health care and jobs, and other times, like in Vermont, coming in as the number one concern for voters.
Why San Jose Kids Do Homework in Parking Lots
More than 10.7 million low-income households in the United States lack access to quality internet service. In cities like San Jose (CA), local governments are using streetlight poles to facilitate equitable access to high-speed internet to dramatically improve educational outcomes for low-income students and expand economic opportunity for their families.
FCC Commissioner Carr, San Jose Mayor Spar Over 5G
The Federal Communications Commission's Brendan Carr is taking off the gloves in a fight with San Jose (CA) Mayor Sam Liccardo. “We must do better than Mayor Liccardo’s failed broadband policies,” Commissioner Carr wrote on Twitter in response to a Liccardo op-ed. “Under his 3+ year leadership, San Jose approved zero small cells-ZERO-depriving residents of broadband options.
Rural Maine communities taking lack of broadband into their own hands
Many rural communities in Maine have been waiting decades for the major internet service providers to bring broadband service to their areas, a situation exacerbated by the state having the second slowest internet speeds in the country. The lack of broadband is a deterrent to would-be residents and businesses, and it thwarts local efforts at economic development. It also deprives existing residents of opportunities for entertainment, education, employment, and digital health services.