Thank you, Commissioner, for that kind introduction. As always, it is an honor to

share the same “stage” with you. I appreciate being afforded this opportunity to join you

and one hundred or so of our closest friends here at Howard University’s John H.

Johnson School of Communications for MMTC’s Broadband and Social Justice Summit.

David Honig and the good folks at MMTC selected an ideal venue for this exchange.

Today we are discussing an emerging technology in front of emerging professionals in

the communications industry. Indeed, the fresh faces in the audience should serve as a

reminder of the awesome responsibility we have to develop a broadband model that will

endure for generations to come.

Before I begin, I want to acknowledge my friend Jane Cabarrus, who is the

President of the Northampton County Branch of the NAACP and the unofficial “mayor”

of Weirwood, Virginia. Weirwood is an African American community on Virginia’s

Eastern Shore that lacks broadband service, and Jane has worked tirelessly to bring

broadband to her community in order to establish a computer center for kids to use after

school. We should all applaud Jane for her exemplary efforts.

Many of the other participants in today’s summit as well as my colleagues at the

Commission have already spoken quite eloquently about the important role of broadband

adoption in the Commission’s National Broadband Plan due to Congress in March.

Recently, Commissioner Michael Copps aptly described exactly what is at stake in our

push for universal broadband adoption. He explained:

Broadband intersects with just about every great challenge confronting our nation

– jobs, business growth, education, energy, climate change and the environment,

international competitiveness, health care, overcoming disabilities, opening doors

of equal opportunity, to name only the most obvious. Every one of these great

national challenges has a broadband component as a critical part of its solution.

1

His words make crystal clear why widespread adoption, especially for people of color, is

imperative.

Blair Levin reminded us earlier today, however, about the many complex pieces

to the adoption puzzle. We must account for and address everything from the cost of

service to digital literacy to the reality of “network effects.” Moreover, as I asserted in a

speech delivered recently before the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, it is

essential that we approach the adoption challenge from the point of view of the non-

adopters, and not from a set of pre-conceived notions about what we assume their needs

are. I call this challenge the “last half-mile” – the distance between each individual who

has yet to integrate broadband into their lives and the physical infrastructure lying right

outside their doors. For many, that last half-mile is uphill, barefoot, and through heavy

1

Prepared Remarks Of FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, Practicing Law Institute, at 2 (Dec. 10,

2009), available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295142A1.pdf.

snow. Our job is to figure out how to level the road, provide the right shoes, and

introduce them to the latest weather app so they can plot their course accordingly.

It is also no secret what is at stake for traditionally marginalized groups when it

comes to broadband adoption. What we now call the “digital divide” could soon expand

into a digital canyon. In today’s fast-changing world, broadband is not a luxury; but

rather, it is a necessity, a must-have. Need a job? You’ll have to go on-line for that.

Want to manage your energy consumption at home? You’ll have to go on-line for that.

Applying for government benefits? Before long, you will have to go exclusively on-line

for that too. Ladies and gentlemen, our country’s broadband express – and yes, it is an

express – is leaving the station. And for those who don’t have a ticket, they will be left

standing at the gate.

But not all is as gloomy as the weather is outside today. There is actually some

good news to report. First, I have met on a regular basis with the team’s adoption group,

and I am confident that they are headed in the right direction. They have been

developing innovative ways to incorporate adoption into all facets of the plan – and have

explored avenues across the board with an open mind.

Second, we have been actively engaged with private parties who are essential to

the broadband adoption equation. While some government money is and will be

available to help defray the cost of broadband and to support creative adoption programs,

it is evident that we cannot do it all on our own. That is why I am pleased to see key

players, such as the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, step up to

assist in the adoption effort. NCTA’s Adoption Plus initiative, a pilot program designed

to promote sustainable broadband adoption for middle school children in low income

households, appears to be a terrific start. Additional like ventures will continue to

emerge, as universal broadband adoption is in the best interests of network operators and

consumers alike.

It is also worth noting that some of the initial numbers rolling in from the

Commission’s recent broadband adoption survey indicate that the percentage of people of

color who are adopting broadband at home is once again on the rise. This is a welcome

development in light of some recent surveys that found that African-American adoption

rates in particular were lagging behind.

But when it comes to communities of color – and other traditionally

underrepresented groups – the broadband story does not and cannot end with adoption.

Broadband is not simply a one-way challenge limited to finding ways in which

individuals can obtain meaningful high-speed Internet access. To view the problem in

such a circumscribed manner misses some of the most potent aspects of this

transformative technology.

Broadband’s key promise for people of color in particular is economic

empowerment. For the first time, there are no immediate and overwhelming barriers to

entry for upstart businessmen and women or “cyberpreneurs”. Broadband has opened

avenues never dreamed possible by those in challenged communities.

Just ask Jonathan Moore, the Founder & CEO of Rowdy Orbit IPTV. Rowdy

Orbit is an online platform featuring professionally produced original programming for

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minority audiences. We learned at the Commission’s Speech, Democratic Engagement

and the Open Internet workshop in mid-December that Mr. Moore founded his company

because he was frustrated over the lack of representation of people of color in traditional

media. The reality is that minority content is almost impossible to get distributed through

traditional channels.

With an initial investment of only $526, Mr. Moore has created a platform for

talented media creators to get eyeballs without the cost and culture barriers of traditional

media. Had the costs of access been much greater, however – say if he had to buy his

way into priority status on one or more networks – Rowdy Orbit may never have seen the

light of day.

So in addition to the issue of how we tackle broadband adoption in communities

of color, another central question we must answer is: How can we ensure that our

communities can take advantage of this emerging economic force? And relatedly, how

can we ensure that the current low barriers to entry remain low in order to prevent yet

another communications model that has people of color once again on the outside looking

in?

To my surprise, most of the filings submitted and public statements issued by

some of the leading groups representing people of color on this matter have been silent

on this make-or-break issue. There has been almost no discussion of how important –

how essential – it is for traditionally underrepresented groups to maintain the low barriers

to entry that our current open Internet provides. I have seen virtually nothing on how

important it is that we not allow what is today our Internet become theirs.

One group that did explore this issue, the National Hispanic Media Coalition,

outlined exactly what’s at stake:

[High-speed Internet] is a tool for small business owners to effectively reach

customers with only a computer and an Internet connection. It is a forum in

which content creators can showcase their work without seeking permission from

the customary content gatekeepers, such as movie studios, cable and television

networks and music labels. It is a venue for journalists, who are facing greater

unemployment due to media consolidation, to enhance democratic discourse and

access new revenue streams through blogging and other online reporting.

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My friends, we are faced with one of those rare moments in time where a sea

change is actually possible for groups that have traditionally been marginalized by the

structure of the communications marketplace. We are on the cusp of a truly

transformative moment. For far too long, women and minorities have struggled mightily

to get a foothold as owners of our nation’s primary means of communications. Only 7%

of licensed radio stations are controlled by members of minority groups, while only 3% -

three percent – of full-power commercial television stations are minority-owned. These

numbers are appalling, and they show no sign of improving in the near future.

Few people understand this struggle better than former Commissioner Brown,

who is in attendance today. As an FCC Commissioner, Ty was involved in some of the

most positive and proactive measures the Commission has ever taken to improve

2

National Hispanic Media Coalition Comments at 2 (Jan. 14, 2010), GN Docket No. 09-191.

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minority ownership. Over 30 years ago, he was a member of the Commission when it

adopted its tax certificate and distress sale policies, among others. Yet even Ty will

admit that despite his formidable efforts decades ago, progress is hardly a word we can

use to describe the status of minority media ownership.

My focus on the critical role of ownership in the media and telecommunications

world should not be foreign to this audience. Indeed, not long ago, in its 2008 “Roadmap

for Telecommunications Policy,” MMTC made the following declaration:

MMTC is now in its 22nd year of tireless work with one goal: ensuring that

people of color will have every opportunity to participate as owners, employees

and suppliers in the electronic media and telecommunications industries.

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These words, I believe, should apply directly to the Internet as well. Together we must

ensure that people of color – and all Americans – can “participate as owners, employees,

and suppliers” on-line. That cannot happen, however, if we passively permit a new set of

gatekeepers to erect yet another set of barriers to entry.

Some of you have expressed a concern that we must be wary of open Internet

rules because of the potential for “unintended consequences.” But the same argument

can be made for any government regulation, especially those rules many of the folks here

have sought on the media ownership front. For example, during a prior media ownership

proceeding, various groups recognized that

[t]he ceiling stopping the advancement of minorities into ownership is fabricated

of two ingredients: (1) discrimination and its present effects, and (2)

consolidation that occurs without the intervention of regulatory checks and

balances and without the initiative of public spirited industry statespeople.”

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If we are all ready to call on the government to assist in the radio and television context

long after the damage has been done – really when it’s too late – why not when the

openness of the next great communications technology is at issue?

I fear that if we miss the boat on this opportunity, the Internet will end up

becoming media ownership 2.0. I do not buy the argument that all regulation is

dangerous, and I am confident that you do not either. I believe in smart regulation, which

is why, for example, we have begun a process that will account for reasonable network

management. But I hope we can work together to create strong rules that do not cede

control of the most significant communications advancement in our lifetimes. By sitting

this one out, or worse, by throwing up roadblocks that will enable what is now “our”

Internet to become “their” Internet, we simply would be reinstating the very kinds of

imbalanced structures that we have been attempting for decades to dismantle in other

contexts.

Not everyone can be a John Johnson. The extraordinary things he accomplished

in order to be among the leaders of the white-dominated media field earned him the

3

MMTC Roadmap for Telecommunications Policy ix (2008), available at http://mmtconline.org/lp-

pdf/MMTC-Road-Map-for-TCM-Policy.pdf (emphasis added).

4

Diversity And Competition Supporters Comments at 19 (Jan. 2, 2003), MB Docket No. 02-277 (emphasis

added); see also id. at 3 (stating that “[p]assively ‘monitoring’ the problem [of minority media ownership]

will be futile).

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Presidential Medal of Freedom. With an open Internet, we have the chance to lower the

bar so that it no longer requires a Herculean effort to make your mark. You simply need

to have a great idea and a business plan and you can be off and running.

I will leave you today with my one “ask.” I ask that you take a step back and look

at the landscape – where we have been, where we are now, and where we so desperately

want to be. The very same arguments and lessons we have learned in the context of radio

and television ownership directly apply to what we face with the Internet. The key

difference, however, is that we actually have a chance, from the outset, to take advantage

of a fairly level playing field. So let’s seize this opportunity together. We need a

passionate voice in this discussion and one that advocates for today’s and tomorrow’s

young cyberpreneurs of color. They need your support and advocacy so that what many

of us have fought so hard for may actually have a chance of coming to pass.

Thank you again for your time today and I look forward to engaging in these

issues more fully over the coming days. And thank you again to Henry, David, and to

Howard University for inviting and hosting me at your terrific event and venue. Finally,

I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of MMTC, especially Jacqueline

Cleary, for their terrific efforts in getting the word out to the people of Charleston and

Memphis in advance of our broadband hearings in those two cities. We could not have

done it without you. Godspeed.