Communication Keys: The FCC’s latest marketplace report
(NATIONAL) On December 30, the FCC released their mandated Communications Marketplace Report 2022. The RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018 requires the FCC to publish this report in the last quarter of every even-numbered year. In it, the FCC provides updates on various media and assesses the state of competition of various providers of communications services.
VNN scoured this year’s 322-page report for key takeaways, which have been divided into six categories (Mobile, Internet and Audio, Video, TV and Media Ownership, Media Revenue, and Covid) and labeled according to section number or page number. Some takeaways have been condensed or summarized for brevity and clarity. You can identify them by their lack of quotations. Takeaways with no section number or page number are part of the section that preceded it.
Data in this report has been reorganized for a more cohesive flow. Italicized sections are additional information provided for context by VNN.
Mobile
Mobile Wireless
(Page 63) From 2017 to 2021, data usage skyrocketed to 53.3 trillion MBs per year.
(Section 81) "According to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of December 2021, the percentage of U.S. adults living in households that were identified as having wireless-only telephone service (no landline telephone service) was approximately 69 percent. For children, the CDC found that an even greater number, approximately 79 percent, live in wireless only households. Further, a Recon Analytics survey estimated that the median age when a child first receives a cellphone is approximately 10 years old."
(Section 93) "Mobile service providers have increased deployment of small cells and DAS (distributed antenna systems) sites to fill local coverage gaps, to densify networks and increase local capacity, and to build their 5G networks. Mobile service providers deploy small cells in cities across the country, often through attaching small scale antenna/radios near the top of light or small utility poles."
"New deployments and upgrades of small cells and DAS in the United States are expected to increase from 811,000 in 2020 to 1,161,000 in 2027."
(Section 64) "As of December 31, 2021, there were three facilities based mobile wireless service providers in the United States that this Report refers to as 'nationwide service providers': AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless. Although none of these three nationwide service providers has a network that is truly ubiquitous, the three service providers have networks that they report cover a substantial majority of the country—each reports covering at least 93 percent of the U.S. population and at least 58 percent of U.S. road miles with their 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and at least 67 percent of the U.S. population and at least 25 percent of road miles with their 5G networks."
(Section 133) "In 2021, AT&T spent $2.2 billion on advertising, excluding marketing expenditures on Warner Media; T-Mobile also spent $2.2 billion; and Verizon Wireless spent $3.4 billion. By comparison, in 2019, AT&T spent $3.2 billion on advertising, excluding marketing expenditures on Warner Media; T-Mobile spent $1.6 billion; and Verizon Wireless spent $3.1 billion".
(Section 65) "In 2021, Verizon purchased the largest of these (MVNO) companies–TracFone, previously an América Móvil subsidiary."
(Section 66) "On July 1, 2020, T-Mobile divested its Boost Mobile brand and its approximately nine million customers to DISH, as a condition imposed by the Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice on their approval of T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint."
Mobile Apps
(Section 134) "In 2021, annual mobile app downloads reached 230 billion worldwide, a 5 percent increase from the previous year. The average American spent 4.1 hours per day on mobile devices in 2021, more than the 3.1 hours they spent each day watching TV. In 2020, 88 percent of the time Americans devoted to Internet activities on mobile devices was spent using apps, excluding web browsers. The increasingly important role that mobile devices play in the modern economy not only directly impacts the mobile apps market, but also has wider implications for e-commerce."
(Section 138) In the second quarter of 2022, the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store had approximately 3.5 million and 2.2 million applications available to download worldwide, respectively.
The categories with the largest number of apps available to download in the Apple App Store as of April 2022 were Games, Business, Education, Utilities, and Lifestyle.
The categories with the largest number of apps available to download in the Google Play Store as of April 2022 were Games, Education, Business, Music & Audio, and Tools.
In the third quarter of 2022, users across the globe downloaded approximately 27.0 billion Google Play Store apps and 8.2 billion Apple App Store apps. Social media and messaging apps claimed the top seven spots in the Top Ten list of most downloaded apps in the second quarter of 2022.
As of June 2022, 96.8 percent of Google Play Store apps were free versus 93.9 percent of Apple App Store apps.
(PAGE 102) Ranking of Most Downloaded Apps Worldwide (Q2 2022)
1 Instagram
2 Facebook
3 TikTok
4 WhatsApp
5 Snapchat
6 Telegram
7 Facebook Messenger
8 Meesho
9 CapCut
10 Spotify
(Section 254) "TikTok, a video-focused social media site, has seen enormous growth. As of May 2021, TikTok had about 138 million monthly active users in the United States. In the third quarter of 2021, about 20 percent of U.S. Internet-using households used TikTok."
(Section 139) "Although there were approximately 80 apps on average installed on each smartphone in 2022, the average person only used nine mobile apps per day and 30 apps per month. About 25 percent of apps were used only once after being downloaded, and the churn rate was 71 percent within the first 90 days. Meanwhile, mobile app usage varies across age groups as young adults tend to spend more time on mobile apps than do older generations."
"In the United States, as of 2021, the most-used apps for Gen Z included Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Netflix. Millennials, meanwhile, preferred Facebook, Messenger, Amazon, and WhatsApp. During the same time, Gen X and Baby Boomers used the Weather Channel, Amazon Alexa, NewsBreak, and Ring apps the most."
(Section 417) "The Affiliates Associations maintain that 'despite the proliferation of new content sources, there has been no significant new entrant into the local news space.' According to Affiliates Associations, this makes the service provided by local broadcasters to their communities even more important. Affiliates Associations also argue that the giant tech platforms use broadcasters’ own local news and public affairs programming without paying fair compensation."
(Section 418) "NAB asserts that giant technology platforms 'control the technologies that power both content discovery (search) and digital advertising, permitting them to make unilateral decisions and impose policies that impede broadcasters’ ability to connect with their audiences and to monetize their own content online.'"
Internet and Audio
Internet
(Section 81) According to a 2021 Pew survey, 85 percent of people had a smartphone and 53 percent of people owned a tablet. That is slightly up from smartphone and tablet ownership reported in 2019. Pew reported that 15 percent of American adults are “smartphone-only” Internet users, a 2-percentage decrease from 2019 and 5 percent decrease from the peak rate of 20 percent Pew found in 2018.
(Page 119) Smartphone-only Internet users varied by Demographic, Income, and Geographic Group. The 18-29 age category was the largest percentage (28 percent) to have smartphone-only internet, nearly double the percentage of all households (15 percent). Black (17 percent) and Hispanic (25 percent) people used smartphone-only internet more than white people (12 percent). People with high school or less education (23 percent), making less than $30,000 per year, and who lived in urban areas (16 percent) were also the largest percentages of people using smartphone-only internet.
(Section 367) "The use of Internet services such as online news, VOD, voice and video calling, social networks, online shopping, and online banking has also continued to grow in many countries, and governments have become more active on these matters over the past two years. For example, in July 2022, the European Union adopted two new pieces of legislation to regulate online services, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act. The Digital Services Act established tiered rules for online intermediary services with regard to transparency and content moderation, while the Digital Markets Act established rules for digital 'gatekeepers.'"
(Section 122) "Smart Cities, IoT (internet of things) on a large scale for urban management, has had several prominent deployments. For example, FloodNet in New York City uses IoT devices to monitor flood conditions. U.S. cities are developing smart city systems to improve traffic management. Other active Smart City initiatives also include Austin, Chattanooga, Denver, Little Rock, Minneapolis, Raleigh, and San Antonio."
Broadband Access
(Section 24) Access to high-speed internet is much lower in rural and Tribal land areas compared to urban areas. DOCSIS 3.1 (the fastest cable speed) has grown the most over the last five years, but it's not deployed equally. 87 percent of urban populations have access to it, but only 45 percent of rural populations and 43 percent of Tribal land populations have access to it.
(Section 58) Access to multiple providers is also much lower in rural and Tribal land areas compared to urban areas. Almost 72 percent of urban populations have at least two provider options for 100/20 Mbps service, versus less than 30 percent of rural households and less than 34 percent of Tribal land households.
(Section 41) "AT&T and Verizon have significant DSL deployments, yet each provider’s website indicates that their current offers are for plans on a 100 percent fiber-optic network and that they no longer offer DSL products to new subscribers. However, subscribers remain on grandfathered DSL plans."
(Section 401) "Several providers have launched new NGSO (Non-Geo-Stationary Orbit) satellites to provide low-latency, high-speed broadband, with more planned over the next decade."
SpaceX: Over 2,600 Starlink NGSO LEO satellites
Kepler: Constellation of 19 satellites in its LEO constellation
Telesat: Demonstration satellite for its global LEO constellation plans for 198 LEO satellites (including 10 in-orbit spares)
SES: 20-satellite O3B medium earth orbit (MEO) constellation (2019), 11 high-throughput, low-latency (including O3B mPOWER MEO) satellites (2022)
OneWeb: 428 NGSO low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, providing service to Alaska (2021)
The Audio Marketplace
(301) "The number of AM, FM, and LPFM radio stations in the United States has remained relatively steady in recent years."
The number of licensed broadcast radio stations has slightly decreased across the board, with FM Commercial stations showing the only number increase from 2018 to 2022.
Spotify tops the list of online audio services used most often in both share of total listeners and share of smart speaker owners, followed by YouTube Music. Pandora follows with share of total listeners, though Apple Music and Amazon Music surpass Pandora with share of smart speaker owners.
Video
The Video Marketplace
(Section 216) At the end of 2021, seven MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors) each had over one million video subscribers: Comcast, Charter, Altice, Cox, DISH, DIRECTV, and Verizon Fios.
(Section 218) MVPD subscribership has declined since 2013. That trend continued from 2020 to 2021, in which the number of traditional MVPD subscribers fell from 75.9 million to 69.2 million (a loss of 6.7 million video subscribers).
(Section 218) "At the end of 2021, 51.3 percent of U.S. households subscribed to a traditional MVPD. According to Leichtman Research Group, households subscribing to MVPD and vMVPD services tend to be older and/or have higher incomes than households that do not subscribe to these services. Leichtman Research Group also found that subscribers to MVPD and vMVPD services have stronger preferences for sports and news, relative to non-subscribers."
(Section 253) "Online Video Distributors (OVDs) can be accessed on a wide variety of Internet-connected devices. Nonetheless, big screen devices account for 77 percent of streaming video viewing. From the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, viewing of OVD services on smart TVs grew 34 percent, while desktop computer and gaming console video viewing declined 15 percent."
(Section 257) "Among persons who subscribe to a paid video service, 58 percent subscribed to three or more such services in 2022, up from 32 percent in 2019. In 2022, the young, active demographic as defined by the survey used 5.9 SVOD services, while mainstream consumers use 3.2 SVOD services."
Subscription-based video on demand providers saw increases across the board from Q4 2020 to Q4 2021, with Amazon claiming the top spot (108 million) in 2021, followed by Netflix (67.5 million), Hulu (45.2 million) and Disney+ (38.6 million.)
(Section 280) "The ascendance of OVDs is affecting content distribution decisions. For example, more expensive original series, especially scripted shows, are now more likely to go to OVDs rather than cable or broadcast networks, while unscripted shows, like game shows, which are cheaper to produce, are filling more time on cable and broadcast TV."
(Page 155) "Original Content Spending, Select OVD (Online Video Distributors) Providers (in $ millions)
Provider | 2020 | 2021 |Percentage Change |2022 | Percentage Change
Netflix | $4,309 | $5,422 | 25.8% | $6,512 | 20.1%
Amazon | $1,102 | $1,489 | 35.2% | $1,904 | 27.8%
Disney+ | $283 | $822 | 190.0% | $1,893 | 130.3%
Apple TV+ | $277 | $671 | 142.1% | $1,157 | 72.4%
HBO Max | $134 | $523 | 289.9% | $948 | 81.4%
Paramount+ | $217 | $398 | 83.6% | $818 | 105.7%
Hulu $461 | $534 | 15.9% | $659 | 23.5%
Peacock | $56 | $194 | 243.5% | $525 | 171.2%"
(Section 250) "Spending by Amazon and Netflix on original content as a percentage of overall content spending has also been generally increasing."
From 2016 to 2022, Amazon’s original content spending increased from about 14 percent of its overall content to a projected 20 percent.
From 2016 to 2022, Netflix's original content spending increased from about 18 percent of its overall content to a budgeted 41 percent.
(Section 283) "At the end of 2021, 15 percent of U.S. TV households watched over-the-air television, and 80 percent of these over-the-air households also subscribed to an OVD. Another 27 percent of TV households relied only on OVDs for video service, an increase from 9 percent in 2018, and 57 percent of TV households subscribed to cable television in addition to other video services, a drop from 76 percent in 2018."
"In 2021, 78 percent of all U.S. households subscribed to at least one of the three top SVODs, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and/or Hulu. The survey also found that 58 percent of U.S. households subscribed to more than one of the top three SVODs, compared to 55 percent in 2020, 51 percent in 2019, and 28 percent in 2016."
(Section 284) "Information on overall viewership shows that viewership of OVD services grew, while viewership of broadcast and cable television fell from July 2021 to July 2022."
OVD increased from around 26.5 percent to 33 percent.
Cable television viewership decreased from around 36 percent to 33 percent.
Broadcast television viewership decreased from around 24 percent to 22 percent.
(Section 411) "According to DIRECTV, retransmission consent fees represent the fastest growing segment of programming costs. DIRECTV blames the higher fees on the increased local and national consolidation of broadcasters, which gives broadcasters greater leverage in negotiating with MVPDs."
TV and Media Ownership
Television Stations
(Section 269) "Despite COVID-related budget cuts, in 2020, 1,116 television stations aired local news, an increase of 18 from 2019. About 700 of these stations produced local news while the other stations aired local news produced by another station."
(Section 269) "Several surveys underscore the influence of local news during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, local news coverage was shown to influence whether people were likely to social distance and wear masks. In terms of political information, research shows that people who live in markets with relevant in-state local television news coverage are 9 percent more likely to recall correctly the party of their senators and 11 percent more likely to recall correctly the party of their governor than people whose local news is broadcast from a market that is out-of-state."
(Section 508) "Over the next two years, the Commission will continue to monitor technological and marketplace developments, remaining alert for potential regulatory actions to help foster innovative, and competitive, service by television broadcasters while also protecting consumers. In this regard, the Commission adopted a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Third ATSC 3.0 Further Notice) in June 2022 seeking comment on the progress of broadcasters’ deployment of Next Gen TV and the current status of the ATSC 3.0 marketplace."
(Section 265) "Most television stations are owned by companies that own multiple stations, called station groups."
Media Ownership
Total Stations: 1,757 (755 here owned by 12 stations groups/ 42 percent of all)
Station Group | Stations | Markets | Share of TV Households Reached
The E.W. Scripps Company | 97 | 74 | 71.3%
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. | 163 | 116 | 62.2%
Univision Communications Inc. | 40 | 25 | 44.7%
TEGNA Inc. 64 | 51 | 39.3%
Fox Corporation 30 | 18 | 38.7%
Paramount Global 28 | 17 | 37.7%
Comcast Corporation 31 | 21 | 37.1%
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. | 111 | 82 | 36.3%
Gray Television, Inc. | 157 | 112 | 36.1%
Weigel Broadcasting Co. | 15 | 13 | 29.0%
WRNN-TV Associates Limited Partnership | 11 | 9 | 24.8%
The Walt Disney Company | 8 | 8 | 22.1%
While the FCC’s Communications Marketplace Report 2018 included the buying and selling of television stations, 2020’s report and 2022’s did not. The biggest recent TV deals include Tegna (#4 on the above list) announcing it is selling itself to private equity firms Standard General and Apollo Global Management in February 2022, Cox selling 18 stations in 12 markets to INSP in March 2022, Gray acquiring 17 stations from Meredith in May 2021, and Allen Media purchasing 7 stations from Gray in April 2021.
(Section 415) "Redrock Broadcasting argues consolidation should be limited so that no entity can hold more than 30% of the available radio or television station licenses in any market. According to Redrock Broadcasting, this limit “will ensure competition, better local service to each community, freedom from predatory pricing practices that can injure local merchants, and provide an opportunity for single small operators, minorities, women and community groups to own stations to have a voice in their hometown."
(Section 416) RMG said many of the largest Multichannel Video Programming Distributors refuse to carry RFD-TV and the Cowboy Channel (which includes coverage of commodities and food supply chain issues, horses and ranching, rodeo, regional music, and rural lifestyle not replicated by other cable networks), channels that serve rural communities.
"When reviewing transactions, RMG encourages the Commission and policymakers to ensure that independent rural programming like RFD-TV can continue to obtain carriage on rapidly consolidating MVPD systems. RMG reports that since filing its initial comments, a bipartisan Senate coalition introduced a resolution titled 'Recognizing the need for greater access to rural and agricultural media programming.'"
(Section 509) "The Commission also continues to examine its broadcast ownership regulations, particularly through the statutorily required quadrennial review of the media ownership rules. Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires the Commission to review its media ownership rules every four years to determine whether they remain “necessary in the public interest as the result of competition.” Pursuant to that mandate, the Media Bureau recently released a Public Notice stating that it has initiated the 2022 Quadrennial Review of its media ownership rules."
This report did not mention the FCC’s recent media ownership Supreme Court battle or subsequent victory by name (Prometheus IV on April 1, 2021), which effectively removed restrictions on owning radio stations and a TV station in the same market, relaxed limits on ownership of TV stations in the same market and reversed the ban on selling joint advertising time by two same-market TV stations.
(Section 511) "On June 29, 2021, Chairwoman Rosenworcel re-chartered the former Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment as the Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) for a two-year charter into 2023. The CEDC is tasked with making recommendations to the Commission on diversity and equity issues across the media, communications, and tech sectors, including how to help small and diverse businesses enter and compete in the communications, media, digital news and information, and audio and video programming industries."
No such recommendations were mentioned in this report.
(Section 263) "Today, the Commission awards commercial broadcast television licenses by auction. The most recent auction concluded in June 2022. It raised $33 million in net bids, with seven bidders winning a total of 18 construction permits for full power television stations."
(Section 414) "According to musicFIRST/FMC, consolidation of AM/FM radio stations has limited competition by allowing a small number of entities to acquire the majority of AM/FM stations. They argue that consolidation resulted in large scale layoffs of local on-air and programming workforce and fewer airplay decisions being made in the local communities that stations serve."
Media Revenue
(Section 136) "In 2021, global revenue from Android and iOS apps exceeded $133 billion, a 19 percent increase over 2020 totals. Sensor Tower reports that in 2021, mobile games generated more revenue than any other app category, at $89.6 billion." Mobile gaming made up 67.4 of all app spending in 2021, up 12.6 percent from 2020.
(Section 280) "In its 2021 disclosure to investors, Disney stated that, departing from past practice, it may release movies simultaneously on its OVD (Online Video Distributor) services and in theaters. It also stated that it may refrain from selling its content and instead keep programming for its OVD services. Further, Disney stated that some content may be distributed exclusively on its OVD."
(Section 254) "In 2021, about 80% of U.S. households were consuming AVOD (Advertising-based Video On Demand), excluding video served on social-media sites. Among individual websites and services, YouTube dominates AVOD."
(Section 238) "Beginning in early 2023, Netflix says it will offer a portion of its programming on an advertisement-supported basis, by partnering with Microsoft to launch an advertisement-supported VOD service."
(PAGE 158) U.S. AVOD Advertising Revenue (in $ billions) and Households (in millions)
Instream Advertising Revenue (Increases across the board)
2020 | 2021 | Percentage Change | 2022 | Percentage Change
$19.4 | $23.2 | 19.2% | $25.8 | 11.3%
AVOD Households (Increases across the board)
2020 | 2021 | Percentage Change | 2022 | Percentage Change
99.4 | 104.3 | 5.0% | 108.1 | 3.7%
(Section 215) "Advertising revenue accounts for approximately 60 percent of revenue earned by all (broadcast television) stations, while retransmission consent revenue accounts for the remaining 40% of revenue."
(Section 273) "Local news programming, and the advertising presented alongside it, are vital to broadcast stations. In 2021, Nexstar reported that it earned 44 percent of its advertising revenue from spots aired during local news programming."
(PAGE 167) Broadcast television station industry advertising revenue is down (-$.7 billion in 2021 compared to 2017) but revenue from retransmission consent is up ($4 billion in 2021 compared to 2017) bringing overall gross revenue trends up $3.3 billion in 2021 compared to 2017.
(Section 289) From 2019 to 2021, online local advertising revenue increased 21 percent. Its share of local advertising revenue rose to 67 percent.
"While local advertising revenue for all other sectors declined, newspapers suffered the largest percentage decline in local advertising revenue, falling from $8.8 billion to $5.2 billion. In 2021, local advertising revenue earned by broadcast television stations and cable TV and telecommunications companies fell to $9.7 billion and $5.0 billion, respectively. In contrast, online local advertising revenue grew to $65 billion."
(Section 290) "National advertising revenue earned by online platforms increased from $60.2 billion to $67.4 billion from 2019 to 2021. National advertising earned by cable networks fell from $28.1 billion to $24.6 billion, while national advertising revenue earned by broadcast networks fell from $18.1 billion to $17.9 billion, and national advertising revenue earned by broadcast television stations fell from $6.9 billion to $5.8 billion."
(Section 302) iHeartMedia dominates the marketplace, with a staggering 745 stations in 149 markets. Here is the breakdown for recent Parent | Stations | Markets | Total Ad Revenue (in $ millions)
iHeartMedia, Inc. | 745 | 149 | $2,229
Audacy, Inc. | 217 | 47 | $1,158
Cumulus Media Inc. | 355 | 85 | $537
Beasley Broadcast, Inc. | 56 | 14 | $226
Terrier Media Buyer, Inc. 45 | 10 | $203
Townsquare Media, Inc. 224 | 52 | $189
Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. | 33 | 8 | $188
Urban One, Inc. | 46 | 13 | $183
Univision Communications, Inc. | 48 | 15 | $169
Salem Media Group, Inc. | 65 | 33 | $136
(Section 303) "Total broadcast radio revenue was virtually flat between 2010 and 2019, going from $17.3 billion in 2010 to $17.8 billion in 2019, for an average annual growth rate of approximately 0.32 percent. However, total broadcast radio revenue dropped to $13.7 billion in 2020, and then rose to $14.8 billion in 2021, resulting in a net decline of approximately 17 percent from 2019 to 2021, due largely to the drop in demand for advertising due to the COVID-19 pandemic." Data shows the radio revenue never fully recovered from the decline experienced during the recession following the 2008 financial crisis.
(Section 304) "Online broadcast radio has had more substantial revenue growth than over-the-air radio, i.e., a 13.1 percent increase between 2010 and 2019. The share of revenue from online advertising grew from 3.6 percent in 2010 to 8.2 percent in 2021. Online radio is an area of potential growth for radio advertising revenue, especially given various new devices for accessing online radio including smartphones, tablets, and smart speakers. In addition, several large owners of radio stations have recently heavily invested in podcasting."
Covid
(Section 258) Online video rentals increased 45.8 percent from 2019 to 2020 but declined in 2021. "That decline is projected to continue, to a lesser extent, in 2022."
(Section 259) Online movie and TV title sales dropped from 2020 to 2021, reversing growth from 2019 to 2020. "Slow growth is projected to resume from 2021 to 2022."
(Section 419) "The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented disruptions to life in America, as it did around the world. The temporary closures of in-person schools, businesses, and workplaces transformed the way that Americans learn, work, and engage in social and economic activities, with significant shifts from physical spaces to virtual settings. According to a Pew survey of U.S. adults in April 2021, 90 percent of adults say the Internet has been essential or important to them personally, 93 percent of parents with K-12 children at home say their children had some online instruction, and 81 percent of adults talked with others via video calls at some point since the onset of the pandemic."
(Section 419) "About 40 percent of Americans reported that they use technology or the Internet in ways that were new or different to them, and approximately 29 percent of U.S. broadband users took actions to increase the speed, reliability, or quality of their Internet connection after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic."
(Section 420) "Among the most pronounced changes in Americans’ activities in response to the pandemic was the shift to telework. Telework accounted for an average of 48.6 percent of paid working days between May 2020 and March 2021, nearly ten times the pre-pandemic level."
(Section 420) "Taking advantage of the ability to work from anywhere, many employees moved from dense metropolitan cities to smaller towns or rural and suburban areas."
(Section 429) "The COVID-19 Telehealth Program distributes funding appropriated by Congress to help health care providers furnish telehealth services to patients at their homes or mobile locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between April 16, 2020 and July 8, 2020, the Commission approved 539 funding applications in 47 states plus the District of Columbia and Guam for a total of $200 million in funding."
(Section 430) "During this second round of the COVID-19 Telehealth Program, the Commission approved applications by 446 health care providers and awarded more than $256 million in funding."
(Section 431) "At Congress’s direction, the Commission has established a series of programs designed to offer discounted broadband service and connected devices to help low-income households get connected and stay connected to work, school, family, and social services. The EBB Program was established as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which accentuated concern about broadband affordability problems that disproportionately affected low-income households. On May 12, 2021, the Commission launched the EBB Program,1256 with a $3.2 billion appropriation through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The EBB Program provided eligible low-income households with a monthly discount off the cost of broadband service and certain connected devices during an emergency period relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, and participating providers could receive a reimbursement for such discounts."
(Section 433) "Congress created the ACP as part of its investment in broadband affordability, deployment, and access in the November 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Infrastructure Act). In establishing the ACP, Congress made several changes to the EBB Program to transform it from an emergency program designed to respond to a public health crisis to a longer-term broadband affordability program and appropriated to the Commission an additional $14.2 billion for the program."
(Section 434) "As directed by Congress, the EBB Program ended on December 31, 2021. At the end of the EBB Program, the more than 9 million households enrolled in the EBB Program transitioned to the ACP."
(Section 437) "The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the inequities between students who have a broadband connection and those who do not when temporary in-person school closures forced learning to take place remotely. Pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Commission established the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) program on May 10, 2021 to distribute up to $7.171 billion to eligible schools and libraries for the purchases of Wi-Fi hotspot devices, modems, routers, devices that combine a modem and router, connected devices and broadband connections for use by students, school staff, and library patrons at locations that include locations other than the schools and libraries."
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