Internet equality for all — so long as you pay for it.
Federal Communication Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed new rules to keep Web pipelines fair and open, but he failed to satisfy consumer advocates who want to prevent Internet service providers from charging fees to content providers, like Netflix, for better service.
Wheeler said in a statement he will enforce Internet equality by requiring broadband operators to disclose how they manage traffic, and by cracking down on ISPs who unfairly block or discriminate the flow.
But he stayed mum on the lightning-rod issue over whether Internet service providers can charge content providers for enhanced broadband delivery.
Experts say this is because the federal appeals court that tossed out the FCC’s old rules, known as net neutrality, left the agency with little to no authority over pay-to-play on the Web.
The Appeals Court for the District of Columbia, which ruled in January, said the FCC “has to give carriers room to negotiate the terms of the service,” said Charles Zielinski, a telecom lawyer with Bryan Cave in Washington.
“The new set of rules may actually provide more flexibility … with respect to pay for priority agreements” from content providers like Google and Netflix, a Barclays analyst agreed in a note to investors on Wednesday.
To regulate fees, Wheeler would have had to push Congress to reclassify broadband providers as utility companies, like the telecom industry. Despite calls from consumer advocates to pursue this route, known as Title II authority, Wheeler shelved it.
Wheeler sidestepped the move because “it would have been hotly contested,” said Zielinski, a former FCC lawyer.
Indeed, the FCC’s two Republican commissioners objected to any attempt to regulate traffic. “The Internet was free and open before the FCC adopted net neutrality rules. It remains free and open today,” Commissioner Ajit Pai said.
Meanwhile, consumer advocates warn of impending Internet blackouts, akin to when Time Warner Cable’s New York City customers lost CBS for a month last year.
“That kind of thing is about to happen in the Internet,” said Derek Turner, research director with Free Press, a policy and research group. “Both sides will blame each other” as they wrangle over fees, he said.
Some experts speculate that a blow-up is already brewing between ISPs and Netflix as broadband providers negotiate behind the scenes for fees to speed up the company’s content.
Last month, Netflix, maker of the hit series “House of Cards,” ranked Comcast No. 14 in speed out of 17 broadband providers, and ranked Verizon last.
A Netflix spokesman didn’t return a request for comment.