Michael McPherson
Editor & Publisher
SCCM e-zine
michael@yrkpa.kias.com
CONTINENTAL CABLEVISION TO PROVIDE
FREE HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS
TO MORE THAN 5,000 SCHOOLS
Continental Cablevision announced it will provide free
high-speed Internet access to every primary and secondary
public school in its service territories.
The commitment is part of a tentative agreement with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to resolve outstanding
cable rate regulation issues affecting 1 million of the MSO's
customers.
As part of the agreement, Continental will provide one
high-speed cable modem and unlimited Internet access at no
charge to some 5,000 schools in the 750 communities it serves
nationwide. Additional modems will be offered to schools at
cost with free Internet access.
"Schools will be on-line within one year of the commercial
availability of [high-speed data] services in each community,"
said Continental spokesman Dave Woods. To facilitate effective
use of the service, Woods says Continental will provide free
Internet training seminars for teachers at each school.
Continental is the nation's third-largest cable MSO serving
4.2 million customers in 20 states. The company's largest cable
system holdings are located in Boston (561,000 subscribers);
Los Angeles (491,000 subscribers); Chicago (348,000 subscribers);
Detroit (258,000 subscribers); Jacksonville, Fla. (240,000
subscribers); and Naples, Fla. (200,000 subscribers).
On February 27, Continental Cablevision agreed to merge with
U S WEST Media Group. Both companies expect the merger to be
completed by the fourth quarter of 1996.
Continental is currently conducting a 200-home high-speed
Internet access trial with BBN Planet in the Boston area.
The company has not released a national deployment schedule
for high-speed data services; however, Woods said the MSO's
merger with U S West "will allow us to provide these services
on an accelerated basis, since we'll have additional resources."
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CABLE DATACOM NEWS is published by Kinetic Media, Phoenix,
Arizona USA. Copyright (c) 1996. All rights reserved.
Additional content is available on the CABLE DATACOM NEWS
World Wide Web site at [http://CableDatacomNews.com].