Big Cable Joins the Broadband Stimulus Fray - Telecom News Analysis

Major domestic cable operators have sat on the broadband stimulus sidelines so far, but that all appears to be changing in the second round of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, as Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC), Cox Communications Inc. , the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) , along with several smaller MSOs, put their collective weight behind a public/private coalition that's seeking more than $52 million to help drive high-speed Internet and computer adoption in poor pockets of the United States. (See Recovery Act: Cable Bids for Broadband Funds and Recovery Act: Cable Shortchanged.)

The proposed "Broadband Adoption Initiative" hopes to stimulate broadband adoption and generate 250,000 new high-speed Internet subscribers and computer users in government-supported, low-income housing. The total cost of the plan is projected to be $78.32 million, with $52.11 million of that total being requested through the proposal, according to an executive summary supplied to Light Reading Cable. (See MSOs, AT&T Make Low-Income Broadband Pitch.)...