Whether the Verizon Google net neutrality proposal would eliminate FTC authority regarding abuses remains a bone of contention. A Verizon spokesman said Tuesday it would not. “The joint Google-Verizon proposal expressly states that generally applicable law that applies to all businesses -- which includes the FTC’s consumer protection laws -- continue to apply,” spokesman Edward McFadden said in a written statement. Media Access Project Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman disagreed. “The two pager” on the deal “expressly states that the FCC will have ‘exclusive authority to oversee broadband,'” he said. “That takes away the FTC’s authority. The takeaway is explicit, and the reading of ambiguous language about leaving stuff in place is not."
Verizon and Google unveiled Monday the details of their agreement on a proposal for net neutrality legislation, which would exempt wireless from rules except those on disclosure. The principles would create what critics say is an “insurmountable” bar for consumers to lodge complaints, requiring demonstration of actual harm. In another surprise to some observers, the proposed law would eliminate the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection role regarding broadband. The proposal builds on an earlier statement by the two companies on net neutrality rules.
Verizon and Google unveiled Monday the details of their agreement on a proposal for net neutrality legislation, which would exempt wireless from rules except those on disclosure. The principles would create what critics say is an “insurmountable” bar for consumers to lodge complaints, requiring demonstration of actual harm. In another surprise to some observers, the proposed law would eliminate the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection role regarding broadband. The proposal builds on an earlier statement by the two companies on net neutrality rules.
Accord is slightly closer on how wireline ISPs should handle all Internet content and manage real-time communications and streaming services that don’t work properly with latency, officials on both sides of the issue said Monday. A meeting Saturday involving FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus (CD July 30 p1) didn’t produce breakthroughs, they said. The meeting did show that supporters and opponents of net neutrality still have more common ground on the wireline issues of content nondiscrimination and managed services than on wireless, said commission and industry officials.
Negotiations for a possible compromise on broadband reclassification and net neutrality, hosted by FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus, intensified this week, with industry officials at the commission for two additional days of discussions and a call scheduled for late Thursday. What is being described as a “marathon” Saturday meeting is also on tap, set to start at 8 a.m. that day. Hill pressure on the commission to reach a compromise is also growing, with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., telling FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski he’s not pleased with responses to his May 27 letter posing questions about the agency’s work on broadband reclassification.
Negotiations for a possible compromise on broadband reclassification and net neutrality, hosted by FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus, intensified this week, with industry officials at the commission for two additional days of discussions and a call scheduled for late Thursday. What is being described as a “marathon” Saturday meeting is also on tap, set to start at 8 a.m. that day. Hill pressure on the commission to reach a compromise is also growing, with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., telling FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski he’s not pleased with responses to his May 27 letter posing questions about the agency’s work on broadband reclassification.
Media ownership and retransmission consent are separate issues with different FCC dockets and shouldn’t be examined in the same proceeding, many broadcasters said in filings on the congressionally mandated 2010 quadrennial ownership review. NAB, the Fox network and companies that own TV stations affiliated with other networks, including Gray and Nexstar, rejected comments earlier this month by the likes of the American Cable Association (ACA) and Time Warner Cable linking arrangements where stations jointly negotiate carriage deals to ownership (CD July 9 p6). One mid-size broadcaster said such deals can violate ownership rules.
Wireless issues have gotten some of the most attention at various meetings held by FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus with industry to discuss a possible legislative proposal for giving the commission authority over broadband, said people who attended the meetings or spoke to others who did. There seems to be more agreement among agency officials and meeting attendees on applying net neutrality rules to wireline broadband, though some issues remain unresolved, they said. Net neutrality advocates and opponents appear to agree on ISP privacy conditions and transparency on network practices, industry and public-interest group lawyers said.
Wireless issues have gotten some of the most attention at various meetings held by FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus with industry to discuss a possible legislative proposal for giving the commission authority over broadband, said people who attended the meetings or spoke to others who did. There seems to be more agreement among agency officials and meeting attendees on applying net neutrality rules to wireline broadband, though some issues remain unresolved, they said. Net neutrality advocates and opponents appear to agree on ISP privacy conditions and transparency on network practices, industry and public-interest group lawyers said.
The FCC stood by media ownership deregulation, excusing in five instances licensees from restrictions on owning a daily newspaper and radio or TV station in the same market and allowing such cross-ownership in large cities approved on a party-line vote in December 2007 during Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure. That was spelled out in a filing Wednesday afternoon to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which is considering industry challenges seeking further deregulation and media consolidation opponents’ requests for stricter rules. Commissioner Michael Copps, who along with then-Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voted against the congressionally mandated quadrennial review report, slammed the filing, which Chairman Julius Genachowski said he supports because the FCC acted within its discretion.