Jim Baller Discusses Muni Broadband on TelecomTV

Friday December 17, 2010

Jim Baller offers a good national overview of community broadband networks in a 7 minute interview on TelecomTV. In it, Baller reads a list of the claims from private electrical companies when they claimed municipal ownership was a delusion, 100 years ago. This video is no longer available.

‘Building Fiberhoods in Holland’ Mini Documentary Encore

Graphic illustration of movie theater with red seats and red curtains. The movie screen is blank with spotlights aimed at it. The air is filled with popcorn snow

Sean Gonsalves

on Apr 1, 2025

If you missed our inaugural Community Broadband Film Fest series kick off last week, the entirety of the event can still be viewed here. Following the live screening before an audience of over 100 virtual participants there was a lively discussion with several of the film’s key figures, including Holland Mayor Nathan Bocks.

Broadband Champion Jim Baller Presented With Lifetime Achievement Award

Sean Gonsalves

on May 3, 2024

James (Jim) Baller’s trailblazing career was honored at the 50th Anniversary Gala of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) in Washington D.C. this week where he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Documentary: The Municipal Broadband Wave and Monopoly Response

Ry Marcattilio

on Feb 13, 2024

In January, we released our new census of municipal networks in the United States for 2024, and the significant growth that we've seen over the last two years as more and more cities commit to building Internet infrastructure to add new tools for their local government, incentivize new economic development, and improve connectivity for households. The trend has not gone unnoticed by the monopoly players and their allies, and a new short documentary by Light Reading does a great job of outlining the stakes for local governments, residents stuck on poor connections, and the incumbents as the wave of municipal networks grows.

CA Broadband Activists Aim For Big Wins On Mapping, Cable Franchise Reform

Karl Bode

on Jun 1, 2023

Thanks to a coalition of local digital equity advocates inroads are being made on fixing long-broken California cable franchise law as Digital Equity LA celebrates a major victory in pressuring the California Public Utilities Commission to produce more accurate maps that will be used to determine where the state's broadband funds should be targeted. These efforts come as California is putting its $7 billion broadband expansion plan into place with an eye on boosting competition and driving down consumer costs.

Watch: What It's Like to Live in the Bermuda Triangle of Internet Access

Screenshot from episode of Connect This!

Ry Marcattilio

on Jan 23, 2023

Despite the release of the first draft of the new national broadband maps at the end of last year (and the first round of location-level and service availability corrections completed a couple of weeks ago), we're not holding our breath that 2023 will spell the end of the technology news cycle story trope of the family that buys a new house and learns that the monopoly ISPs don't

Recent Broadband News | Episode 49 of the Connect This! Show

Ry Marcattilio

on Aug 2, 2022

Join us live on Thursday, August 4th, at 4pm ET for the latest episode of the Connect This! Show. Co-hosts Christopher Mitchell (ILSR) and Travis Carter (USI Fiber) will be joined by regular guests Kim McKinley (UTOPIA Fiber) and Doug Dawson (CCG Consulting) to talk about all the recent broadband news fit to print.

Back to Home

See All News