The FCC will approve new net neutrality rules, along party lines. The agency’s Chair Julius Genachowski has already proposed rules which would prevent internet providers from blocking legitimate Internet traffic. It may take several years of court challenges before “legitimate” is defined.
Genachowski will get the votes of the other two Democratic commissioners. The two Republicans will vote against the new rules, according to several media reports.
The most controversial section of the new regulations, at least from a financial standpoint, is that Internet carriers which include cable and telecom firms, will have the right to levy special charges on companies which utilize unusually large amounts of broadband capacity. This will almost certainly include video sites like Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube. Broadband “pipes” suppliers like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) have given the proposal strong support because it could bring them hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees.
The fight has only just begun.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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