DEI resource

Broadband Internet service is available for nearly every house in New York City, yet less than half have adopted it. Barely a quarter of low income households pay for a high speed connection at home.

As PPH Policy Director Joshua Breitbart explains in this audio clip, Internet access on mobile phones brings connectivity to people where they  are on devices that they have already decided to pay for. This is a better way to get people online than trying to convince them to buy a new machine and pay for a new service.

Resolution urging the Federal Communications Commission to implement regulatory amendments that would allow portable devices to operate on the white space radio spectrum in order to close the digital divide and stimulate investment in new technology without  negatively impacting television broadcasters, performing artists, professional sports leagues, and all incumbent wireless microphone users.

Have you ever wondered how so many inventions – TV, radio, cell phones, wi-fi, microwave ovens and more – can share the airwaves? And why, with such an abundant resource, is so much of it controlled by the same few corporations? Here's a 3:30 explanation.

"White spaces" are the unlicensed or unused portion of the radio spectrum between television broadcast channels. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally put those spaces there to minimize interference between analog television broadcast channels. In February 2009, television transmissions will turn digital and diminish the need for white spaces as a buffer between channels because digital signals use less space when traveling through the airwaves.

Abdulai Bah of the Community News Production Institute takes pre-paid calling cards to task and suggests that white space devices could save immigrants a load of cash.

The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, opposes the certification of white space devices. The saddest part of the current position of the Broadway League is not that it asks us to sacrifice low-income New Yorkers so they can continue producing plays and musicals. The saddest part is that we can keep the Broadway shows we love and end the digital divide. The Council resolution should be phrased in this positive, hopeful light.

My May column on Gotham Gazette breaks down the Verizon franchise agreement. If you're interested in knowing what New Yorkers are getting and what we're losing, you should read it: What the Verizon Deal Does -- and Doesn't -- Do

This deal, negotiated in secret and rushed through the approval process, is perhaps the most underreported telecommunications story of the year. New York City is the largest cable market in the United States. This deal will set the standard not only for the other cable franchises in New York – Time Warner and Cablevision are up for renewal – but for FiOS deals across the country.

You can review the franchise agreement yourself: