Comcast Plans $10 Internet for Low-Income Families

Comcast is readying a discount Internet service for families whose kids receive free lunches by way of the National School Lunch program, the company announced on its blog. For $9.95 a month, families who live in one of the 39 states Comcast serves with at least one child participating in school lunch program can take advantage of the "Internet Essentials" service. Comcast will also offer these customers a "netbook-style laptop" running the Windows 7 Starter OS for $149.99, Mashable reports.

The firm will take new Internet Essentials customers for “three full school years,” it says. The initiative wasn't entirely born out of the goodness of Comcast's heart: The plan comes as part of the Comcast-NBC merger, which called on Comcast to “increase broadband deployment in low-income households.”