NY Post writer Abby W. Schachter attempts to conjure controversy out of thin air by describing a program that provides internet access to low-income families as some sort of political payoff to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Schachter even goes to News Corp.'s race-baiting well by complaining that “poor blacks in Chicago” are the beneficiaries of this supposed payoff:

Who is getting nearly free internet from Comcast? President Obama's neediest of course -- poor Chicago black kids.

Back in January we pointed that in order to buy NBC Universal the government had forced Comcast to start its own welfare program. According to an FFC letter at the time, Comcast promised to provide “2.5 million low income households: (i) high-speed Internet access service for less than $10 per month; (ii) personal computers, netbooks, or other computer equipment at a purchase price below $150; and (iii) an array of digital-literacy education opportunities.”

Poor blacks in Chicago are the ones getting Comcast's sweet deal , because who needs the Internet more than voters in the President's home town, which is now run by his former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel? As the mayor explained, “This will ensure that every part of this city has a chance to grow in the new economy. And Chicago will lead the country in dealing with this economic and social divide issue,” Emanuel told reporters at the Woodson Regional Library.

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Would Comcast have refused to install internet access at locations in Roseland and Washington Heights before its NBC deal? If so, the government just endorsed a business engaged in racist discrimination. Hardly seems likely. What seems much more likely is that Comcast would have installed internet service anywhere people ordered it but that poorer communities want cable TV not the Internet. Apparently poor folks are too stupid to make their own choices about how to spend their money.

In a letter to the FCC while the Comcast-NBC Universal merger was being examined, Comcast wrote:

Comcast has a plan to substantially increase broadband adoption in low-income homes throughout Comcast's service area. In households in Comcast's service areas with annual incomes below $20,000, broadband adoption rates are at approximately 40 percent. More than a quarter of those homes include students who are eligible for free lunches under the National School Lunch Program (“NSLP”), a commonly accepted indicator of need. (Qualifying homes have annual incomes of less than 130 percent of the poverty level.)

As the letter also indicates, the program includes homes “throughout” Comcast's service area. Comcast's website also explains that “Internet Essentials will be available starting in the 2011-12 school year in areas where Comcast offers Internet service.” Comcast's services are available in “50.6 million homes in 39 states and the District of Columbia.” That is a substantially larger area than a few neighborhoods in Chicago.

The Chicago Sun-Times story that Schachter links to as the source of this story doesn't contain the phrases “black kids” or “poor blacks,” or any other reference to the race of the people who will benefit from the program.

Schachter claims that low income households just don't want broadband internet, but in 2010 the FCC issued a report on the “digital divide,” (the gap between access to the Internet for low and medium to high income households) and explained that affordability was one of the major factors impacting broadband adoption:

About one-third of the group that hasn't adopted broadband cited cost concerns: the monthly fee was too expensive; they could not afford a computer; the installation fee was too high; or they didn't want to enter a long-term service contract. The survey found the average monthly broadband bill for all users was $41.

For many of these families, it isn't a choice -- they simply can't afford this technology that is becoming increasingly necessary for everyone in society to have if they want to earn a decent living or communicate with peers.

But for the New York Post it's all about a conspiracy involving “Comcast's government-regulated bribe.”