FCC, Cable Launch Major Broadband Plan

The FCC and a group of cable companies are launching a major initiative that will help lower-income families connect to an inexpensive broadband product. Dubbed the Connect to Compete (C2C) program, qualifying households will be able to receive internet service for $10 per month on $150 computers.

Beginning next year, cable broadband providers such as Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter and others (see below) will offer the discounted service to families with at least one child eligible for the National School Lunch Program. The service will include refurbished computers with 90 days of tech support, free installation and cable modem rentals for two years.

According to the NCTA, there are more than 10M students who qualify for the free school lunch program in roughly 5.5M homes that don't already subscribe to broadband services. The organization says C2C is the largest private sector initiative to address the issue of broadband adoption in low-income homes while giving millions of students advanced tools to succeed in an increasingly digital society.

With help from the FCC, a C2C non-profit organization will be formed and and headquartered at One Economy - a global non-profit the connects underserved populations with new technology.

So far, the NCTA says broadband providers committed to C2C (or similar efforts) include BendBroadband, Bright House, Cablevision, Charter, Comcast (via Internet Essentials), Cox, Eagle Communications, GCI, Insight, Mediacom, Midcontinent, Sjoberg's Cable, Suddenlink, and Time Warner Cable. Bipartisan supporters of the initiative include: President Barack Obama, Sen. John Rockefeller IV (D-WVA), Sen. Kay Hutchison (R-TX), House Tech. Subcommittee Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA), House Commerce Committee Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and many industry leaders. •

GPS Ups LightSquared Fight at FCC

The Coalition to Save Our GPS asked the FCC to rule that LightSquared can never use the upper 10 MHz of spectrum for its planned 4G LTE wireless broadband network. The group says the FCC "owes" the decision to all affected parties and the agency needs to put LightSquared "on clear notice that it will not be allowed to pursue future terrestrial use" of said spectrum.

In response, LightSquared said the GPS industry is demanding to profit from using "adjacent spectrum" for free that's been licensed to the wireless start-up. The company says it's the GPS industry's fault for not designing its devices to avoid such problems and: "as if having free use of government-owned GPS spectrum for the last three decades wasn't enough."

The FCC has said (numerous times) that it would not let LightSquared launch its network before proper testing had determined the service wouldn't interfere with GPS. Members of the Coalition include GPS manufacturers Garmin and TomTom, and several private freight interests such as FedEx, UPS, the Air Transport Association and the Association of American Railroads.

UPDATED: Late Wednesday, LightSquared issued a release saying it has revised its deployment plan and agreed to lower power levels - two steps that "eliminated the interference issue for general navigation devices which account for more than 99% of GPS equipment." •

Etc.: National EAS Reaction - TWC Bats for Dodgers TV? - ESPN Fights at CES

Gov't: Wednesday marked the first national test of the Emergency Alert System. Here's some initial feedback: The NCTA said in many places the test reached viewers "without a hitch," but in some places it did not. National Journal's Marc Ambinder tweeted that FEMA conceded to some "glitch(es)" that may be related to how satellite and cable providers prepared network equipment. Some DIRECTV subs reported hearing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" during the test. Some Comcast subs reported their STBs turn to QVC before the test. Some Time Warner Cable subs in NY said they didn't see any alert at all. NY Broadcasters Association President David Donovan said local radio and TV stations across the state were successful in their test but added there was "opportunity for improvement." Tweets, updates and details at Business Insider.

Q3: Mediacom reported a 39K loss in basic video subs to 1.1M and, unlike its cable brethren, a loss in high-speed internet customers (-5K) as well.  The MSO posted Q3 revenue at Mediacom Broadband of $220.2M, a 4.5% y/y increase and a 4.3% increase at Mediacom LLC to $170.6.

Strategy: Time Warner Cable is said to be considering a bid for the rights to air LA Dodgers baseball games. Bloomberg has details on the rumored contract that would probably look a lot like the one TWC netted with the Lakers earlier this year.

Disputes: Even before the FCC approved the mega-merger of Comcast and NBCU, independent nets warned that the cable company would use the decision to impede competition. LA Times has the story on why the Tennis Channel is saying "we told you so."

Advertising: Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft unveiled plans to launch a massive ad network collaboration that will pool their collective unsold ad inventory to increase margins and leverage higher premiums. The kicker: All three companies will soon integrate each others' real-time bidding platforms. ClickZ has details on why this deal  is "a different beast."

Programming: Nickelodeon is launching a multiplatform strategy aimed at mothers called NICKMOM. The new prime-time programming block will air on Nick Jr. featuring comedies, talk shows and hidden camera stuff. NICKMOM's website will launch next week as a blog on the net's ParentsConnect site.

Mobile: Verizon is offering subscribers a limited-time special of double the data for the same monthly fee they're already paying. Seems the company is having a change of heart on its data-ceiling policy…

SkyREPORT: InStat says during the past several years, the global satellite set-top market has experienced slow to negative growth thanks, in large part, to the conversion from standard-def to HD. But greener pastures are ahead, as the firm predicts digital satellite STB shipments to increase by ~14% in 2012. --- United Airlines says it will outfit its entire fleet of aircraft with Ku-band connectivity by 2015. NSR issued a report saying the marriage between satellite communications and airlines is here to stay. --- Eutelsat said it has successfully transferred all traffic from Eurobird 16 to its new, high-capacity W3C satellite at 16 degrees East.

Up, Down and Over There: Polish national commercial broadcaster TVN inked a deal with Samsung to embed its multimedia app TVN Player into Samsung's Smart TVs.

Folks: Discovery said COO Peter Liguori will step down at the end of the year.

Wow!: We didn't know how else to categorize this news, but apparently ESPN is planning a knock-out presence at this year's CES in Vegas. So much so, the four-letter sports giant will host the first-ever live boxing card at the show, as well as live TV and radio broadcasts. Dealerscope has more.

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •