By K.C. Neel, FierceCable, May 14, 2014
As FCC chairman Thomas Wheeler mulls changes to net neutrality rules, representatives from all corners of the industry -- from cable and telecom executives to Hollywood and Capitol Hill players -- are giving him their two cents on the issue.
The FCC will release proposed new rules regulating the Internet on Thursday, and no one appears happy with what's been floated so far. The new rules are being crafted in the wake of a federal appeals court ruling in January that struck down the existing basis for the FCC's net neutrality guidelines. Wheeler's new proposed rules seek to prevent broadband providers from blocking or slowing down websites but would allow some content companies to pay for preferential treatment. He has also indicated he'll look at turning broadband service into a Title II service, which would treat the delivery mechanism as a common carrier or utility.
More than two dozen cable and telecom industry titans are begging the commission not to reclassify broadband as a Title II service, arguing that "the growth of the Internet and the rapid adoption of mobile technology have been great American success stories, made possible by a light regulatory touch for the entire online ecosystem." They went to say that imposing "common carrier-style regulation upon any part of the Internet would be a dangerous rejection of this successful policy course, potentially impeding the development and adoption of new Internet technologies and services, and threatening future investment in next-generation broadband infrastructure."
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Neal McLain