 I wanted to introduce Jeff Dunn, who's the CEO of Sesame Workshop. He's also the chairman of my board. That means he's my boss. In just over a year, Jeff has taken in my estimation and in many outside neutral observers very bold steps and he has formed remarkable partnerships to help modernize the workshop's operations with a view towards both domestic and global impact. Prior to joining the workshop, Jeff served as the president and CEO of HIT Entertainment and before that he was the chief operating officer at Nickelodeon Network's group and president of Nickelodeon Film and Enterprises. It has been a great stretch for Jeff in getting to know him over the last year and some months. Please join us in welcoming Jeff, who is going to offer remarks and introduce Chairman Wheeler. Jeff Dunn. Thank you, Michael. I don't know that, you know, Michael said he's my boss. I think I'm learning a lot more from Michael about this business than he's learning from me, so I'm delighted to be here. As Michael mentioned, I am the CEO of Sesame Workshop, which is the global nonprofit whose mission is to help kids grow smarter, stronger, and kinder, which is what this is all about. You know, almost 55 years ago, another FCC commissioner, Newton Minow, famously referred to the dominant medium of the day, television, as a vast wasteland. Now, little did he know when he uttered those words that he would be inspiring a media transformative vision for children's media. Having heard his speech, Joan Gans Cooney, a TV documentary news producer in New York City, set out to create Sesame Street and the Children's Television Workshop, and how it's blossomed from there. In the nearly half century since, the workshop has helped millions of young children get a great start in life. Our TV show, along with our educational outreach programs, helped to set the world's children on a path to success by building partnerships with parents and teachers and communities, that shape kids' experiences today through programs like our Military Families Initiative, Sesame Learning, and our newly recently announced program on autism. We continue to demonstrate that engaging scientifically designed educational media can both delight and change lives. But we are not resting on our laurels. Our team today is busy modernizing Sesame for today's digital age and making sure that it will be a sustainable innovator for decades to come. Today's children face new challenges that the pioneers of Sesame Street and public broadcasting could not have anticipated a half century ago. As the excellent report we've just heard from the two Vickies makes clear, we have significant work to do to ensure that a modern vision of equal opportunity for all is attained in the U.S. Now the original vision of Sesame Street, which was to help level the playing field for low income children to get a great start towards academic and social success, is thus still a piece of unfinished business. In a world where technology is advancing by tremendous gaps and leaping forward more quickly than ever before, we need to think very creatively about the new forms of public and private partnerships that will result in fulfilling our shared mission. To ensure that every child has access to the tools, skills, and the knowledge that is available to the nation's most advantaged families. We at Sesame take very seriously our role in helping to develop new approaches and to instigate others to invest in children's education, and we hope that the research we're doing today will mobilize others here to contribute to the solutions as well. It is then, and therefore, my great honor to introduce someone who is a pioneer in the digital equity arena, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who has for over three decades been a leader in industry and in public life. His blend of skills and accomplishments is significant. Tom has been an entrepreneur, a technologist, and a policy expert. That is a great combination. His leadership on broader internet access and the growth of the e-rate program for our educational system has been first-rate, and his commitment to building alliances across industry and community and government has been very constructive and well-needed. Here is one small tidbit I found interesting in Tom's impressive credentials. He is the only person to be selected to both the cable television hall of fame and the wireless hall of fame. That's really pretty great. And finally, I want to note that the Chairman is a former board member of PBS, which continues to be a very important partner for Sesame Workshop. Our ongoing PBS Alliance allows us to reach millions of children, families, and communities with mission-critical programming. So it is on behalf of the CUNY Center and Sesame Workshop that I remind all of you in the room that the FCC's commissioners' words and actions can have great consequence. Mr. Chairman, you never know if the next Joan Gantz CUNY is sitting right here in this room today or watching on the internet. Not too much pressure. Say something important. Your commitment to ensuring that low-income families and schools gain access to essential communication services helps organizations like ours and those in this room fulfill our missions. We are very grateful and we look forward to your remarks. Thank you very much. Thank you, Jeff, and thank you, everybody. It's great to be here at these fabulous digs. Wow. Jeff, that's a really warm and thoughtful introduction, and I need to turn around and say thank you to you and Sesame Workshop for all the great leadership that you all have provided for so many years and continue to evolve. You know, to be mentioned in the same breath with Newton Minow is a singular honor. You know, Newton Minow is the gold standard. No, no, no. Newton Minow is the platinum standard for FCC Chairman because what he did with the statement, the vast wasteland statement that you cited is two things. One, he stated a truth, and at the same time, he issued a challenge. So, Jeff, a minute ago, said to me, okay, Wheeler, you'd better say something significant. And I want to go off script, okay? I've got stuff that I'm going to stand here and read to you, but let me go off script and tell you what I think is significant in both a truth and a challenge. And that is that we all have the incredible privilege of living through one of the great network revolutions in history. I'm a history buff. It's been 150 years since we've seen the kind of impact a network could have that we're experiencing now with the internet, particularly the wireless internet, which is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. Okay, that's the statement of the obvious. Now, what are we going to do about it? I was a venture capitalist for about a decade before I took this job. There are a lot of people out there saying, here's what I'm going to do about it to offer a new important service and permit and make some money at the same time. Absolutely nothing wrong. It's the American way. It's something to be celebrated. What are we going to do about it to address the challenges of America? If we live through this period of incredible network transformation and don't use the power of that network to also transform opportunities in society came on us. And that's the thing that motivates me. I don't know what the answers are, but I do know that we are presented with a unique set of opportunities. I'm not smart enough to figure out what the next Sesame Workshop is, but somebody is. And you're absolutely right, Jeff, that if we recognize what this revolution is all about and then say, what are the effects of that going to be? I'm now totally off script, but I'm a hung up. Jeff described me as a technology guy, and yeah, I'm kind of a geek in that regard. But the history of network revolutions is that it is never the primary network technology that has the greatest effects. It is always the secondary effects that build on that technology. So we got to ask ourselves, okay, let's get out of our just thinking about networks, networks, networks, networks, and start thinking about effects. And what are the effects that are made possible by this network? And the valuable research that I heard a part of and that I'm going to carry out with me and read, that was presented moments ago is just an example of the kinds of effects that we need to be exploring and the importance of the kind of work that you all have been doing. So thank you to New America for inviting me. Much more important, thank you for this conference to get together to address these kinds of issues and what we're going to do about the effects of this network. You know, everybody talks about the digital divide. The digital divide matters. And it matters because of the fact that it has effects on individuals in very personal ways. You can talk all you want about the statistics that I don't mean to play down. There's some really interesting statistics that I saw. But the great thing about the presentation that I just saw, which is not just the statistic, I say this three times. It's not just the statistic. The data. Thank you. It's not just the data. It was then accompanied by, and here's an example in a real person's life. I mean, that's a terrific kind of a contribution to this whole discussion because what we're talking about is people. We're not talking about statistics. We're talking about people. We're talking about people who for one reason or another aren't benefiting from this incredible new platform that technology has brought forth. The digital divide has been talked about for years. And events like this are important because in the digital age, access to that platform is all about access to opportunity. And if we're not about opportunity, just what are we about? It goes back to my point earlier. You know, in 2016 the Internet is the first place people go to find and apply for a job. Americans need broadband to keep a job, not just apply for a job. These companies increasingly require basic literacy skills. You saw in the data that I just saw from Vicky. Now I don't know which Vicky it was, but I'm really sure that her name was Vicky. But you just saw in the data that Vicky presented that our kids need broadband, rely on broadband to do their homework, whether it's completing an online assignment or researching a topic for their class. And when we get sick, what do we do? We go online to find out what's wrong. Google is now faster than the CDC in terms of being able to forecast various epidemics, not the right word, but various outcroppings of flu and other diseases. And then of course we go online to reach telehealth specialists. We're in the process right now of bringing home a lot of men and women from fighting wars. But if you want to get the benefits that our country has promised you as a part of your service, you got to do it online. The statistic that I found interesting is that access to broadband also helps us save money. The average, let me get this right, there was a study that estimated that broadband helps a typical US consumer save $8,800 a year by providing access to bargains on goods and services. $8,800 bucks ain't chump change. Now in the midst of all of this, the FCC has a statutory mandate to ensure, quote, consumers in all regions of the country, including low-income consumers, should have access to advanced telecommunication services, unquote. It's not just that the law says that we have to do something about the digital divide. It's got to be our guiding principle. It goes back to the point I just made. It's our newt-minnow moment. The title of the session, I'm sorry, the report, gets it exactly right, Opportunity for All. It reminds us that the struggle for digital equity is part of the struggle to uphold one of America's most fundamental values, opportunity. We can do better. We must do better. One way that we're trying to do better is by retooling the FCC's Lifeline program. Commissioner Clyburn has long been a champion of such reforms, and Commissioner Rosenhorstle has helped us focus on what she dubbed the homework gap that, again, we saw some information about this morning. Lifeline was established in the Reagan era in 1985 to help low-income Americans afford access to vital communications. And in those days, vital communications was defined as a telephone call. Over a span of three decades, the program has helped tens of millions of Americans afford basic phone service. But in the digital era, having a phone doesn't necessarily mean you're connected. So that's why, last June, the Commission initiated a proceeding to recast Lifeline for the broadband era. At a time when our economy and lives are increasingly moving online, it doesn't make sense that the Lifeline program focuses only on 20th century narrow-band voice service. Low-income children and families need and deserve a modernized Lifeline that will help make broadband more affordable. A modernized Lifeline that allows participants the opportunity to move to the other side of the digital divide. Eventually, hopefully, erasing that line between internet haves and have-nots. So the first principle of Lifeline reform is allowing the program to support both fixed and mobile broadband service. We will propose establishing minimum standards of service that Lifeline providers must deliver to receive funds. Because technology is constantly improving, the opportunity for that service exists to constantly evolve as well. An important point. How do you fashion government programs that aren't frozen in time? It's the new challenge. How do we make sure that there is a program that as technology improves, the program itself rides that improvement curve. We will also improve Lifeline's management and design. Our current proceeding will get to the heart of the historic issues that have undermined the program's efficiency so that we'll get more bang from the Lifeline buck. We want to make it easier for carriers to participate in the Lifeline program. Too many of our country's leading service providers, as well as many local innovative small providers, do not offer Lifeline service. Because it's too much of a hassle for them. We've got to change that. The more service providers that we can encourage and incentivize to participate, the better the service will become. And this will mean streamlining the requirements to become a Lifeline provider and taking a hard look at the burdens we place on the providers. Finally, we will encourage robust participation in the program by eligible consumers. We want low income, offline, or insufficiently online Americans to have multiple options for getting online just like any other American has. And we want to introduce the concept of competition. Commissioner Clyburn has been a real champion on driving this issue. It's not just that, okay, here's your Obama phone, which is what those who don't like it have called it. You know, and it's, this is the kind of what you've got. But use your choice as to what kind of service you want, as to how you want to get it, as to what kind of device you want. Let's create a situation where there's choice. And let's learn never to bring our cell phone to the front of an audience. But how do we have a program that embraces my favorite word, competition? So I hope that you have noted my choice of words here today. I haven't been saying we should, but we will. In the not too distant future, we will vote on new rules. There's no good reason why the commission shouldn't be able to come together to fix this. Fix this program and design a program for the digital age. But modernizing Lifeline is just part of the answer to the Digital Equity Challenge. Promoting adoption of broadband goes hand in hand with efforts to ensure access. At the commission, we've updated other telephone era universal service programs to support broadband, bringing Wi-Fi and gigabit fiber connections to our schools and libraries, and expanding the broadband networks to over 7.3 million rural consumers. We previously didn't get service. But the cause of promoting digital equity extends far beyond the work of the FCC. It's a national challenge. It requires a national effort. And again, the work that the Numerica Foundation and the Sesame Workshop and this kind of meeting are doing helps to identify those issues and develop solutions. Of course, on the ground, community activists play an important role in providing digital literacy training and informing residents about the opportunities to get connected, including, but not limited to, Lifeline. I was in Detroit, kind of the poster child for the hard-hit American city, not too long ago, meeting with local community groups who were organizing to help those who perhaps didn't understand the internet, didn't understand its benefits, who were afraid of it, to begin to understand how they can harness it and how they can use it to meet the challenges that they face. The private sector plays a hugely important role as well, investing tens of billions of dollars each year to expand and upgrade networks. Private companies such as Alphabet and Comcast have stepped up to promote adoption. And my colleagues in government have also not been shying from this. You've heard President Obama to call President Obama my colleague in government. That's probably a little rich. You heard the President talk about this in his State of the Union address. He's talked about connectivity in every single State of the Union address for the last three years. But Secretary Julian Castro, who I think I can call a colleague, it was really impressive. First month on the job, he called and said, I want to come see you. Now I don't think a secretary of housing has ever gone to see a chairman of the FCC ever before, let alone, you know, I'm going to come see you. And he came over and he sat down and he said, how do I learn from the programs that you have been running to take advantage of the platforms that I have at HUD to assure connectivity for my constituents? And the Connect Home Initiative was the result, the laudable result. Secretary Castro and his team brought together public and private to work on partnerships to deliver into federally supported housing units. And I'm told that thus far they are bringing broadband, technical assistance, and back to this important point, digital literacy, training to students and their families living in public assisted housing in 28 communities across America, reaching over 275,000 low-income households. You know, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has stepped up as well. He exemplifies the kind of creativity and commitment that's needed when he stepped up and he put $70 million in the city's budget for free or low-cost, wireless broadband service for low-income communities. And that is a really creative plan for turning old payphone booths into Wi-Fi hotspots. Both of those examples, Mayor de Blasio and Secretary Castro are thinking outside-the-box examples. If we think outside-the-box, we collectively think outside-the-box and think why instead of why not. I'm going to try the other way. Why not instead of why? If we think about how can we be bold and work together, I think we can make real progress. Move this topic of the digital divide from more than a discussion to something that is overcome and that we focus, we use the technology to focus on overcoming issues like income inequality, creating new jobs, stimulating economic growth, assuring national competitiveness. Those are pretty broad issues. Those are pretty bold agendas. Those aren't digital divide issues. Those are issues that are important to America internationally and in all aspects of our activities so the stakes couldn't be higher. And that's why we're not going to let our foot off the gas in our efforts to promote opportunity through communications technology. That's why I get excited about the work that you're doing. That's why I'm going to read that report. I mean this, I mean I, Vicki, you enticed me by what I saw. And I'm going to read it and learn from it. So thank you to New America Foundation for your leadership. Jeff, thank you to you for being at the helm. Thank you to the work that all of you are doing and thank you for the privilege of inviting me to come here today.