How the Comcast Lift Zones Benefited the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Houston During a Crucial Year
This month, millions of children went back to in-person classes and started after-school programs for the first time in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But some of these programs never shut down. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a nonprofit that operates after-school programs for young people nationwide, remained opened in many locations to continue serving the families who depend on the clubs' services. In fact, in the greater Houston area, the Boys & Girls Clubs opened their doors for eight hours a day during the school week as soon as they were able to implement health and
Energy Efficiency Programs Are Helping the Wallet and the Environment
Innovative voluntary energy efficiency programs for set-top boxes and home internet equipment continue to yield tremendous financial savings for consumers while significantly reducing energy consumption. Pay-TV providers and internet service providers and their manufacturing and retail partners are demonstrating their commitment to energy conservation by participating in the voluntary agreements, both of which are led by NCTA, Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and CableLabs. New independent audits released by D+R International revealed the latest findings highlighted below that
A Tribute to Cable Employees This Labor Day
The past year and a half has seen its ups and downs during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but through it all, cable employees have remained steadfast in their commitment to delivering the internet and television services that millions of Americans across the country depend on to continue working, learning, and connecting. As America prepares to celebrate the upcoming Labor Day holiday, it's important to reflect and pay tribute to the numerous field technicians, engineers, customer service agents, television showrunners and producers, and all industry employees who work around the clock to keep
GLAAD Shares Why LGBTQ Representation in Children's Media is So Important
Over the last two decades, the United States and much of the world has experienced a dramatic shift in attitudes over acceptance of LGBTQ people. During that time, on screen representation has soared, thanks in part to big names in cable TV (such as HBO or Showtime) taking what was then considered a risk and producing shows that not only portrayed LGBTQ people in positive ways, but also had them as central characters. This expanding of perspectives on screen has been met with critical acclaim as well as commercial success. Where conventional wisdom once held that queer characters and story
How Broadband Networks Fared During the Internet's Biggest Stress Test Ever
As America (hopefully) begins its climb out of the COVID-19 pandemic and many offices and schools are reopening, it's worth reflecting over the past 17 months how broadband networks performed and enabled our country to stay engaged and productive during this unprecedented public health crisis. After all, considering how quickly stay-at-home orders forced tens of millions of workers and students home, COVID-19 was undoubtedly the biggest stress test that the internet has ever faced. When the outbreak of COVID-19 caused states to issue stay-at-home orders across the country in March 2020, NCTA
Broadband Data: Closing the Digital Divide With Broadband Adoption Programs
While the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the digital divide in the United States, cable internet service providers have long been committed to providing connectivity to as many Americans as possible. Using a multi-pronged approach, at the start of the pandemic in 2020 cable ISPs responded to the global health crisis by further expanding their successful broadband adoption programs to more qualifying households. Over the past decade, low-cost broadband adoption programs have connected over 14 million Americans to the internet. These low-cost programs offer broadband service for as low
The Consistent Success of LGBTQ Inclusive Shows
June is LGBTQ pride month, a time to celebrate and reflect on progress made for LGBTQ people and a time to take a look at where things could be better. Over the last 25 years, GLAAD, a nonprofit that advocates for better LGBTQ representation in the entertainment world, has tracked the number of LGBTQ characters on TV. In that time, the amount of representation on screen has expanded far beyond those first years. That progress of getting LGBTQ characters on screen is an important step, but only the first one in creating a space for authentic queer stories. GLAAD has issued challenges to the TV
A Look Back at Remote Learning as the School Year Wraps up
June marks the start of summer, which also means the end of the school year and graduation celebrations. Millions of students and teachers had to adapt to a new style of academic instruction as classes went virtual when the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to close their doors in March 2020 and for a large part of the past year. While many schools reopened and offered hybrid learning plans this past spring, it's worth taking a look back at America's first year of remote learning and the lessons gleaned as graduates leave their respective schools to start on new paths and students get ready for
ViacomCBS Special Addresses Racism Against AAPI Community and Calls for Change
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPI), and with the tragic rise in hate crimes against this community over the past year of the pandemic, it is more important than ever for media, television, and Hollywood to find ways to not only honor and celebrate their contributions, but to educate audiences about the discrimination and challenges that many of them undergo. To help with these efforts, ViacomCBS joined forces this month with the Asian American Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation to raise awareness about acts of racism against Asian
How Broadband Met the Challenge and Is Ready for the Future
After an unprecedented past year, more Americans are not only connecting online a lot more to work, learn, and socialize, they are also recognizing and appreciating the reliability of their internet connections during the COVID-19 pandemic. This should come as no surprise given how America's broadband networks performed resiliently over the last year despite the historic surges in internet traffic that occurred when more people than ever before began working and learning remotely from home. According to a recent Morning Consult survey, 86% of American adults rate their internet as excellent or