Comcast is developing a comprehensive, multiyear plan to allocate $100 million to fight injustice and inequality against any race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or ability. There will be $75 million in cash and $25 million in media that will be distributed over the next three years.

Charter Communications said that it has begun to accept applications for its 2020 Spectrum Digital Education grant program, part of a $6 million, four-year cash and in-kind commitment to educate consumers on the benefits of broadband and how to use it in their everyday lives. Applications will be accepted until June 26. Grants will be announced in Aug and awarded in Sept. Charter said it opened the application portal two months earlier than planned to meet the needs of nonprofit organizations focused on providing broadband training and education in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, more of the nation’s medical care is being delivered by telephone or videoconference, as in-person care becomes a last resort for both doctors and patients. That’s a problem for tens of millions of Americans without smartphones or speedy home internet connections. For them, the digital divide is exacerbating preexisting disparities in access to health care.

By this Public Notice, the Federal Communications Commission notifies E-Rate program participants that the FCC Form 470, the form that E-Rate program applicants use to solicit bids from service providers for E-Rate eligible services, will remain unchanged for funding year 2021 to allow schools and libraries to continue to focus their time and resources on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. In so doing, we seek to avoid the potential for further confusion and burden on applicants at a time when they are continuing to transition their students, patrons, teachers, and staff to remote learnin

While a nation of burned-out, involuntary home schoolers slogs to the finish line of a disrupted academic year, a picture is emerging of the extent of the learning loss among children in America, and the size of the gaps schools will be asked to fill when they reopen.

Homeschooling students amid the coronavirus pandemic significantly amplifies economic inequities between households. Income also significantly affects access to broadband and data plans, the foundations of keeping up with schoolwork when classes are cancelled. With web-based learning as the new norm, students are dependent on access to the internet and computers to obtain their education. Internet hotspots are in-demand, but supply is lagging.

Pew’s “After the Fact” podcast host, Dan LeDuc, spoke with Kathryn de Wit, manager of Pew’s broadband research initiative, to hear about the challenges that communities face in bridging the digital divide.

On April 13, 2020, Rep Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajti Pai to update the Keep Americans Connected pledge to go beyond the initial 60 days and instead last through the duration of the public health emergency. Additionally, he asked Chairman Pai to expand the pledge to include a commitment to suspend all price increases for the duration of the public health emergency. 

Although an unexpected message from the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, our aim is really about opportunity and community. We believe that communications policy—rooted in the values of access, equity, and diversity—has the power to deliver new opportunities and strengthen communities to bridge our divides. We don't believe that broadband educates children. We do believe that broadband facilitates vital connections between students and teachers, especially during this time when so many schools are shuttered. We don't believe broadband makes you healthy.

The coronavirus pandemic caused big Internet service providers to put data caps on hold for a few months, but one small ISP is going a big step further and canceling the arbitrary monthly limits permanently. Antietam Broadband, which serves Washington County in Maryland, announced that it "has permanently removed broadband data usage caps for all customers," retroactive to mid-March when the company first temporarily suspended data-cap overage fees.