NOW TV, Broadband Expansion, and more with Michelle Gilbert of Comcast – IT in the D 459

This week, we talked with our friend and long-time guest Michelle Gilbert, VP at Comcast (last time was episode 428, still relevant!) and she’s got plenty of news. Comcast launched NOW TV, a streaming service that includes over 40 premium channels, plus Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST), and Peacock Premium. It costs $20/month. We dove into was the $42B infrastructure bill that was recently signed to give high speed broadband access to literally everyone in the country. Michigan will be getting $1.5B of it, which will hopefully help Randy’s parents in Mid-Michigan keep up with his on-goings on social media.  The White House announced a $42.5 billion dollar investment package that includes broadband roll-out to previously under-served areas of the country. A new Storm-Ready WiFi product will provide about 4 hours of internet access via the cellular network with a battery backup in case of household power outages. Comcast RISE is a grant program that this year will provide money, technology, education, and publicity to 100 small businesses across Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. We re-visited into my favorite topic, Internet Essentials, which gives people at or below the poverty line high speed access at $10/mo. Please share this with your network as I feel this is a great service to the community.  Lastly, we talked about shows we are watching and how Randy suckered me into subscribing to Paramount+. All in all, it was a great episode and always amazing to catch up with Michelle.