Comcast touts low-income Internet program amid merger review

Comcast on Tuesday touted its program to offer subsidized Internet connections to low-income families as a reason for federal regulators to approve its proposed $45 billion merger with Time Warner Cable. 

The company published a progress report showing that 450,000 families had signed up for the program since its creation in 2011, started shortly before its acquisition of NBC Universal. That includes 90,000 in the last six months.

{mosads}Comcast said the merger would allow the program, called Internet Essentials, to extend to Time Warner Cable customers if the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department approve the merger.

“To continue to make progress, we need to get Internet Essentials in front of more low-income Americans, which of course will happen after the closing of our Time Warner Cable transaction when we add cities like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Charlotte to the Internet Essentials footprint,” the company said. 

The program offers $9.95 per month Internet service to families that have a child enrolled in federally subsidized school lunch program. Families with an income of about $30,000 a year fully qualify for the lunch program, while families making less than about $44,000 qualify for reduced-price lunches. 

Comcast also offers subsidized computers. It says it has distributed about 38,000 computers at less than $150 each. 

Those families qualifying for the Comcast subsidies must be located in an area served by Comcast to qualify. Only about 17 percent of qualifying families have signed up for the Comcast deal. 

“The unambiguous view across all broadband adoption researchers is that the most widely cited main reason for non-adoption is not the price of the wireline broadband connection or any cost related to that connection, but rather a bucket of digital literacy issues, including a perceived lack of relevance of the Internet, a lack of understanding as to the value or usefulness of the Internet, fear of the Internet, and lack of basic digital literacy skills,” the company wrote. 

The FCC is on day 162 of an unofficial 180-day review period. Regulators must determine whether the deal is in the public interest and does not harm competition.

This post was corrected at 1:15 p.m.