Recognizing the Importance of School Partnerships During Teacher Appreciation Week
When the COVID-19 pandemic sent students home from school, many educators were forced to move their classes entirely online. This shift to distance learning was a significant endeavor, especially as some students did not have internet access at home. In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, NCTA celebrates the educators who rose to meet these new challenges. Teachers have gone to great lengths to continue the learning process online. As distance learning plans evolved, educators and broadband providers across the country collaborated to connect students and families in need. These partnerships
As Upstream Consumption Increases, Cable Networks Are Ready
With millions of people working and learning from home (via the internet) last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, America witnessed its biggest ever surge in internet traffic with spikes of 60% in some markets. Since last March, NCTA has tracked and published data showing how online usage has changed during the pandemic and how cable’s broadband networks have risen to the challenge of these traffic spikes. Not surprisingly, a new study by OpenVault found that upstream traffic consumption hit an all-time record in 2020, increasing by 63% between December 2019 to December 2020. This growth rate
Cable's Future Ready Network Accomplishes Another Tech Milestone on the Road to 10G
In a groundbreaking milestone demonstrating that cable’s broadband network is ready for whatever the future brings, Comcast announced last week that a new technology will enable it to deliver symmetrical upstream and downstream speeds greater than 4 Gbps over its hybrid-fiber coaxial (HFC) network. The result is a significant step forward in the cable industry’s 10G vision, a global initiative to deploy new technology that will dramatically increase both upload and download speeds and capacity over existing networks already available in hundreds of millions of homes. Just over two years ago
A D.C. Resident Shares How the Internet Changed Her Life
Since LaJoy Johnson-Law gained access to the internet in her home last year, life has completely changed for her and her 8-year-old daughter, Abria. A resident of southeast Washington, D.C., Johnson-Law is one of 14 million people who have been connected to broadband internet through the cable industry's broadband adoption programs over the past decade. While Johnson-Law, like many other Americans, was able to make due without the internet for many years by either using the internet at a neighbor's home every once in a while or her phone’s hotspot, everything changed when COVID-19 hit the
More Energy Savings Coming to Pay-TV Equipment
Today is Earth Day, and the timing could not have worked out better to celebrate and recognize a hugely successful energy efficiency program that has already saved consumers $7 billion in energy costs. The program is the award-winning, "Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Set-Top Boxes," between all of the major cable, satellite and telco multichannel video programming distributors, manufacturers of set-top boxes, and leading energy efficiency advocates the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
Much of America’s Infrastructure is Crumbling; Broadband is the Exception
The topic of improving our national infrastructure is once again front and center in Washington. For years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has been urging policymakers to reinvest in things like waterways, bridges, energy grids, and roads. In fact, ASCE reports that 43% of America's public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition, more than 230,000 U.S. bridges require repair and preservation work, and there is a water main break every two minutes, causing an estimated six billion gallons of treated water to be lost each day. Another “newer” form of infrastructure is the
New Report Finds Network Performance During COVID-19 Was a Success
A new report by the expert Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group (BITAG), a multi-stakeholder organization composed of engineers and technologists from various sectors across the internet ecosystem, highlights how the internet rose to the challenge of huge traffic surges during the pandemic and continues to perform well as millions of Americans continue to learn and work from home. The report, "2020 Pandemic Network Performance," co-edited by NCTA Vice President of Broadband Technology Matt Tooley and DISH Network Senior Engineering Program Manager Kate Landow, examines from a holistic
Fargo’s On-Location Filming Brings Jobs, Tourism to Illinois
Before a TV show starts filming, a lot of big decisions have to be made. Chief among them, where will production take place? Sometimes, an elaborate set is built (that sometimes can be a holodeck). Other times a location scout works to find an already built environment to use as a backdrop. On-location projects come with perks that are absent with a set: authenticity, scale, and often times support from local government offices. These projects also bring significant economic stimulus to an area by employing local crews and talent. The effects on the community can often go far beyond those
NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell Talks Infrastructure and More on C-SPAN
NCTA President and CEO Michael Powell is the featured guest this week on C-SPAN’s The Communicators, where much of the discussion focused on the Biden administration’s infrastructure plan, specifically its broadband provisions. While the full 30-minute interview is available here, we used C-SPAN’s video clipping tool to develop several soundbites on the key issues that were covered. Those topics include: Importance of targeted funding, How to future proof new networks, The success of direct consumer subsidies, and Warning against rate regulation. Powell also talked about other topics ranging
What Cable ISPs Are Doing to Close the Digital Divide
Just a few weeks ago, Comcast announced on the 10th anniversary of its successful broadband adoption program, Internet Essentials, that it would invest $1 billion over the next decade towards closing the digital divide. This includes investments towards providing support for its Lift Zones—WiFi-connected safe spaces in 1,000+ community centers nationwide—, new equipment donations, grants for community organizations that help low-income Americans, and continued support for the Internet Essentials program. To top it off, the ISP stated that over the past decade, Internet Essentials has helped to