Washington, D.C., temporarily
got two new Bridges, courtesy of the
broadcasting and cable industries.
Sorry, commuters, they won’t relieve
congestion on the 14th Street or Memorial
spans. Actor brothers Beau and Jeff Bridges
were scheduled to be in the district five
days apart at separate events.
Beau Bridges was in town last week
for a June 2 tribute to Jim
and Sarah Brady at the
Ronald Reagan Building.
Jim Brady was seriously
wounded in the
attempted assassination
of the late president, and
Bridges played him in
an Emmy-winning turn
in HBO’s 1991 Without
Warning: The James Brady
Story.
Scheduled to be in
town today (June 6) is Jeff
Bridges, Beau’s Oscar-winning sibling.
He is slated to receive the National Association
of Broadcasters Service to America
Leadership Award at the Washington
convention center.
There was yet one more bridges/cable
connection revealed last week.
Somewhat out of the deep blue, as it
were, a release came over the electronic
transom from publicists
for the U.S. Navy Memorial’s
Lone Sailor Awards
Dinner Sept. 22 at the National
Building Museum
in Washington. Beau,
Jeff and their late father,
Lloyd Bridges, all Coast
Guard veterans, and CSPAN
founder and Navy
veteran Brian Lamb will
be honored for their service
to the country and
their communities.
Comcast Picks Chicago to Cut Ribbon
On Its Subsidized Internet Plan
Comcast cut the ceremonial
ribbon last week on its lowcost
broadband initiative,
Internet Essentials, at a Chicago
event featuring Comcast
executive vice president David
Cohen and Chicago Mayor
Rahm Emanuel.
The “nearly-free” Internet
(actually $9.95 a month plus
tax) will be available to any
child anywhere in the country
who is eligible for the national
school lunch program.
As one of the conditions on
approval of Comcast’s majority
acquisition of NBCUniversal, the company promised to offer low-cost high-speed
broadband, plus subsidized computers and digital literacy training, to low-income
families. The company will start delivering on that promise this fall.
The choice of Chicago was partly because the Windy City will be the site of the
Cable Show convention in two weeks (June 14-16), a Comcast spokesperson said.
Comcast is the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s largest member
company, it is also the city’s biggest cable provider, and Emanuel and Cohen, two
longtime Democratic politicos, are old friends.
Their connection dates to when Emanuel was consulting the campaign of former
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Cohen was managing it. Cohen visited Emanuel at
the White House on a couple of occasions, including on the day the NBCU deal was
announced.
