Broadband

WCCA TV has the best. Thanks ladies!

John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, writes:
After some details started slipping out, the FCC eased an embargo on its long-awaited Broadband Plan on March 15, a day ahead of its scheduled unveiling at the commission's monthly public meeting and two days before its delivery to Congress.

Entitled Connect America: The National Broadband Plan, the plan calls for an ambitious refocus on broadband as the medium of choice for information delivery in the new millennium. That includes getting affordable broadband to everyone and high-speed access to at least 100 million households by 2020, including using half of broadcasters spectrum for wireless broadband by 2015.

It could also mean a national framework for taxing online goods and services, and getting a better handle on current broadband speeds and service by new standards and online metrics like dashboards.

What ever the FCC or congress does with regards to Broadband initiatives nothing will work for our democracy unless the public ( not just government or corporations) is included as a controlling participant.

Jim Baller writes on his blog:
On September 24, the US Broadband Coalition - a broad and diverse array of 160
organizations - will issue a report that identifies the key issues and a range
of policy options that the U.S. should consider in determining its broadband
future. The report is especially relevant and timely because the Federal
Communications Commission must submit a national broadband plan to Congress by
February 2010. The report builds on the Coalition's December 2008 "Call to
Action for a National Broadband Plan" that not only provided a policy framework
for a national broadband plan but also committed the signatories to work
together to address key issues and policy priorities. The Coalition's

"Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. 'Limiting access to programming is straight out of the cable playbook, going back to the days when Congress had to act in 1992 to allow the satellite programming distributors to have access to cable programming. ... We are concerned that this program violates the open nature of the Internet,' Sohn said. 'By adding this additional toll lane, Comcast and Time Warner want to create their own 'managed channel' within the Internet and turn the Internet into their own private cable channel.'
Roy Mark for eWeek
For more read the link: Internet Advocates rip Comcast Broadband TV Everywhere.

For anyone wishing to present themselves as knowledgeable about what is going with broadband or cable issues, one must read, in my opinion is Bunnie's Blog You will need to read more. The National Cable Telecommunications Association (NCTA) recently produced a white paper on broadband deployment that read like Greek to her and it will to many. Apparently confusion is often a tool used by swindlers and some lobbyist. When I am in conversation with activist, many of them local, the saying which pops up often, usually masked as a joke, regarding legislative matters is that here in the US it's " the best legislation money can buy". I certainly know there are governments that are much worse.

Forwarded Chuck Sherwood and the ACM list serve:

Teletruth News Analysis, December 22, 2008

Free Press Proposes Broadband Infrastructure Bailout of $44 Billion ---
(More Taxes to Give Wealthy Companies that Failed to Build Out Their
Networks.)

To read the rest of this story
here

There has been a call for 'stimulus packages' to help with our current
economic crisis and new infrastructure initiatives, such as the upgrading of
roads and bridges, are on the top of the list. There are also a number of
groups who care about broadband infrastructure and want their billions as
well. The arguments - more jobs, better productivity, etc, may be well
intentioned, but the unasked question is: Who should pay for it and who
should built it?

While we agree that America needs to have a national broadband
infrastructure initiative, we are against the current plans by many,
including Free Press, who wants to raise taxes and give a $44 billion dollar
bailout to the very companies who are responsible for America's broadband
infrastructure crisis. There are multiple reasons why we're against this.

Free Press Report: "Down Payment on Our Digital Future: Stimulus Policies
for the 21st-Century Economy, "a comprehensive set of proposals that would
deploy a forward-looking national broadband infrastructure."
click here

Bruce Kushnick, Teletruth

Contact:
Jen Howard, Free Press, (202) 265-1490 x22 or (703) 517-6273

Free Press Releases Broadband Stimulus Proposals

WASHINGTON -- Today, Free Press released /Down Payment on Our Digital Future:
Stimulus Policies for the 21st-Century Economy a comprehensive set
of proposals that would deploy a forward-looking national broadband infrastructure.

With strict benchmarks and clear accountability, these policies would target
stimulus funds toward building next-generation broadband networks, connecting
unserved and underserved areas, supporting affordable Internet connections,
providing computers and technology training for low-income users, and promoting
Internet access for children at school and at home.

"Investing in the information superhighway is a concrete way for President-elect
Barack Obama and Congress to kick start the economy and secure long-term
prosperity," said *S. Derek Turner*, research director of Free Press and author
of the report. "But since future generations will be footing the bill for this
stimulus package, Congress must ensure that these funds deliver the
next-generation networks this country needs. There should be no blank checks."

The policies detailed in the new report would allocate $44 billion over the next
three years, immediately producing tens of thousands of new technology-sector
jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity. The
proposed tax incentives and grant programs are designed to trigger new
investments, not to fund projects previously planned by incumbent
telecommunications companies.

The United States currently ranks 22nd in the world in broadband adoption, with
more than 40 percent of all U.S. homes not connected to broadband. Lack of
meaningful competition has taken away the incentive for network operators to
make substantial upgrades or build out to all communities, leaving Americans
with connections that are too slow and expensive.

Free Press' broadband proposals address the problems of broadband availability
and adoption, while also providing substantial immediate and future economic
benefits. These proposals also stipulate that all networks constructed with or
supported by broadband stimulus funding must be open, freely competitive
platforms for ideas and commerce.

The proposals contained in this report would create programs to:

* Produce next-generation networks capable of delivering speeds of 100
Megabits per second through tax incentives that stimulate private investment.
* Spur competition by awarding higher tax incentives to companies that
deploy world-class, fiber-optic networks that are open to multiple
competitors.
* Fund the construction of next-generation broadband and wireless networks
in rural and unserved areas.
* Help low-income Americans get connected by using stimulus funds to extend
universal service programs to support broadband.
* Modernize the e-Rate program to connect children at home by supplying them
with computers and lowering the monthly cost of Internet access.
* Bring health care and public services into the digital age and provide
technology training to senior citizens and families with children.

"Broadband is the great equalizer," Turner said. "It has more potential than any
other technology in history to raise the standard of living for all Americans.
Building this world-class broadband network is a down payment on that digital
future."

*Read executive summary:
pdf link

*Read full report: Search freepress dot net

Esme Vos MuniWireless writes:

"The conventional wisdom among my friends who are Net Neutrality fanatics is that a change of regime will finally bring about tough net neutrality legislation, ushering in a Golden Age of cutthroat competition in the US market for broadband services, leading to faster speeds, lower monthly costs for Internet access, no throttling, no deep packet inspection, no blocking of applications and so on...."

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No matter party is "in" , it seems there is little really done to end the buying and selling of legislation.