Our second panel will focus on the more general issue of the digital divide in rural America. Dr. Stephen J. Jay, M.D.,Chairman of the Department of Public Health and Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the Indiana University School of of Medicine will join Mr. McLean, Mr. Rhode and Mr. Parkhill for that discussion. I welcome each of you to the Committee and thank you for agreeing to testify. The first is an examination of a proposal that would create a loan guarantee program to provide low cost money to satellite and cable systems to help them deliver local broadcast stations to viewers in rural America. The second issue is the looming presence of the digital divide in rural America.
Rural communities face a number of unique barriers in the realm of telecommunications.
Even when the technology is available, as in the case of satellite television, issues of access still arise due to the cost constraints inherent in serving a population that is so often remote from the economic centers of urban America. Just as the disparity in access to local television signals for rural Americans is problematic, the disparity in access to telephones, personal computers and Internet access between rural and urban areas is likewise troubling. A recent U.S. Department of Commerce report shows that regardless of income level, Americans living in rural areas are lagging behind in Internet access and even when holding income constant, Americans living in rural areas are less likely to be connected by personal computers. Low-income, young and certain minority households in rural America are the least connected to the information highway. This digital divide contributes to the problems facing economic development in rural America.