josh's blog

The Indypendent newspaper asked me to write an article for their October 3 issue explaining the importance of white spaces. (Updated following the hearing.)

---

Please join us at the debut screening of "The Internet is Serious Business," a video by People's Production House, CUP, and City-As-School.

The New York City Council has scheduled a hearing for September 29 on the unused TV channels known as "white spaces." If, like most low-income New Yorkers, you rely on your cellular phone more than a landline or a laptop or a desktop, than your whole communications future is at stake with this issue. If you hate your cell phone provider or you like the idea of sharing Internet connections, than this is for you.

On August 14, People's Production House, Common Cause/New York, Consumers Union and NYPIRG called on the NYS Public Service Commission to reconsider its decision to grant Verizon a cable franchise with the City of New York.

See our official request for reconsideration (pdf). (Kudos to Chris Keeley at Common Cause for his work gathering the documents and drafting the letter.) To be reconsidered, we have to show that he decision was based on new or false information or that the decision was made in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

People's Production House recently participated in a great panel on the digital television (DTV) transition, hosted by Devorah Hill from Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Our co-panelists were Glen Ford from Black Agenda Report, Joel Kelsey from Consumers Union, and Lawrence Carter-Long from the Disabilities Network of New York City.

A team from Google visited the PPH offices today to learn how access to the unused spectrum in between digital TV channels could benefit our members. Access to these open channels, known as "white spaces," would help close the digital divides in rural and urban areas.

In rural areas, it would allow us to use wireless signals to cover much larger areas than we can with currently-available spectrum. In urban areas, it would create competition for mobile phone service, which is many people's primary – and many more people's potential – path to the Internet.

The NYC Broadband Advisory Committee met on Wednesday to hear from Diamond Consultants, the company hired by the NYC Economic Development Corporation to report on the state of broadband access in the city. Diamond has done an incredible job gathering data on broadband availability and adoption in the city. That alone gives New York City an advantage going forward.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding a hearing on the digital television (DTV) transition in Brooklyn on Friday. People's Production House will be testifying at the hearing about the impact the federally mandated switch from analog television broadcasts to digital will have on New Yorkers who rely on over-the-air broadcasts for TV.

As I wrote in an article in February, "Counting Down to the Great Television Turnover," the DTV transition has the potential to disrupt access to free television for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who get free television over the airwaves.

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:

The Digital Expansion video team of Johanna, Kristian, Darnell, Helki, and Brian recently visited the collocation facility for the New York State Education and Research Network (NYSERNet), where they interviewed Tim Lance, NYSERNET's president and chairman.

The DEI video team has been interviewing a range of experts on New York's Internet infrastructure as a way to understand why it works the way it does. This time, "It felt like we were inside the Internet!" said one of the team's members.

PPH will join City Council members and consumer advocates on the steps of City Hall today at 11:00am to call for a delay in the Franchise and Concession Review Committee vote on the proposed cable franchise for Verizon.

Participating in the press conference will be Councilmember Gale Brewer, chair of the Technology in Government Committee; Councilmember Tony Avella, chair of the Zoning and Franchise Committee; Susan Lerner from Common Cause/NY; Russ Haven from NYPIRG; Chuck Bell from Consumers Union; and myself.

The City and Verizon have negotiated a deal that will have a greater impact on our television watching and Internet usage than any other action the City or a company will take in the next 20 years – and you have been shut out of the discussion. The 6-billion-dollar deal to build a fiber optic network throughout the entire city was negotiated behind closed doors.

As part of the franchise approval process, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) is required to hold a public hearing. That meeting will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20, from 3-6pm at the New York City College of Technology, 285 Jay Street.

On Sunday, May 4, the Digital Expansion research team surveyed an English class at Adhikaar, which serves Nepali immigrants.

The research team, which includes Abdulai Bah and Alexis Walker (in the picture above with their backs to you) is visiting with community organizations to learn about people's access to and use of the Internet. We are focusing on immigrant communities who are marginalized from the Internet and excluded from important Internet policy discussions.

The research team distributed a flyer explaining how people can get more involved: attend or testify at upcoming hearings of the The Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) or the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee, or sit for an interview with the research team and let us deliver your story, or join our research team.

Would you like us to visit your organization? Please contact us.

Yesterday, Verizon proposed to build a fiber optic network covering all of New York City. The proposal comes just one day after the City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) published notification of the RFP for cable television providers, which is how you know DoITT’s RFP (request for proposals) and Verizon’s proposal were worked out in tandem over months of closed-door negotiations.

On April 15, Verizon proposed to build a fiber optic network covering all of New York City. The proposal comes just one day after the City’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) published notification of the RFP for cable television providers, which is how you know DoITT’s RFP (request for proposals) and Verizon’s proposal were worked out in tandem over months of closed-door negotiations.