The grant funds are a result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Charter Communications, Inc. and the California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) setting forth public benefits related to Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc. (see summary). The required outcomes of the ABC grants are verifiable broadband subscriptions by low-income households in the Charter service territory.
As per the MOU with CETF, Charter committed to an aspirational goal of achieving 350,000 broadband adoptions among low-income households over the next 5 years and is offering an affordable broadband rate of $14.99 per month at 30 Mbps (megabits per second) download and 4 Mbps upload in their service territory (marketed as Spectrum Internet Assist). Charter also is providing funds to CETF to promote broadband deployment and adoption and to support digital inclusion initiatives such as School2Home. CETF is dedicating $2 million in public benefit funds for ABC grants to CBOs over the next 2 years. While CETF will collaborate with Charter and partners to promote the Spectrum Internet Assist program, ABC grant subscriptions will not be limited to the Charter offer-consumers will have a choice and grantees will be required to provide information about all affordable offers available in the area.