It's Comcastic: Comcast Files Suit in Effort to Perpetuate Digital Divide
On Tuesday, we officially learned that Comcast has challenged the City of Philadelphia's application to the federal government for stimulus funds to build broadband infrastructure for disenfranchised communities. This decision by Comcast exhibits the worst of corporate malfeasance and it must be challenged.
Comcast is making the legal argument that as long as they provide
Internet service in a geographic area, they will attempt to legally
block federal or state funding that aims to bridge the digital divide.
Their argument is that in areas where they serve, there are no unserved
or underserved communities (read: no digital divide). Of course this is
bogus because Philadelphia, the city of Comcast's home office, has one
of the highest rates of digital exclusion, which is no surprise because
digital exclusion co-occurs with poverty.
The point here is not that Comcast is wrong, which is obvious. The
point is that they are a bad corporate citizen. They get tax breaks and
untold benefits by the municipality and commonwealth and then they
attempt to block federal money from coming to this city to solve
serious problem, which will have a great deal to do with how
Philadelphia greets the 21st century. And while it is a bit of a
stretch, the merger is a part of this equation because Comcast already
wields far too much power in this city and the merger only promises to
give them more power in setting the agenda of this region. On this one
last point. When we were putting together the City's proposal for
stimulus funding for digital inclusion, Comcast was there in the room.
They were there when they were not in the room, and when decisions were
made that they did not like, they were there in the room none of us get
to be in, setting the terms of the debate. That is a fact.
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