Could Comcast Derail Obama’s Broadband Agenda?

[Joanne98]

President Obama has made broadband a key part of his telecommunications agenda. To get there, he has tasked the Federal Communications Commission with the responsibility to make changes to Internet regulations and promote his “National Broadband Plan,” an ambitious effort to reform the industry and expand broadband access across the country.

There’s an elephant in the room however, and it’s name is Comcast. The telecommunications company is challenging the FCC’s authority on Internet regulation in court, and if successful it could seriously inhibit the agency’s efforts to move its plans forward. Comcast’s beef goes back to 2008, when the FCC censured the company for its bandwidth-throttling efforts against BitTorrent and others.

If the court rules in Comcast’s favor, the FCC may lose the necessary powers it requires in order to shift spectrum from television companies to wireless providers in order to advance broadband access. The agency also has other options, including reclassifying Internet service under more tightly regulated telephone service laws, but even that isn’t fraught with trouble.

Telecommunications companies would no doubt be unhappy that they wouldd be required to share lines with their competitors, and we all know that probably means lawsuits. It would also mean Internet providers would have to accept quite a bit more regulation then they’ve been used to. More lawsuits. All in all, the Comcast case really seems to hold the key to Obama’s broadband plans.

Continued>>>
http://technologizer.com/2010/04/05/could-comcast-derail-obamas-broadband-agenda/

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

1. The court did rule in Comcast's favor . . .

. . . just today, in fact.

[Joanne98]

2. I know.

[villager]

3. And yet, people will remain Comcast customers...

...dutifully paying their bills each month?

:shrug:

[guruoo]

4. Court Rules Against FCC's Comcast Net Neutrality Decision

Court Rules Against FCC's Comcast Net Neutrality Decision
The FCC had no 'statutorily mandated responsibility' to enforce network neutrality rules, a US appeals court judge has ruled.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 09:00 AM PDT

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission did not have the authority to order Comcast to stop throttling peer-to-peer traffic in the name of network management.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in an order Tuesday, overturned the FCC's August 2008 ruling forcing Comcast to abandon its network management efforts aimed at users of the BitTorrent p-to-p service and other applications. The FCC lacked "any statutorily mandated responsibility" to enforce network neutrality rules, wrote Judge David Tatel.

The FCC's 3-2 vote to enforce a set of net neutrality principles came after news reports in late 2007 that Comcast was slowing BitTorrent traffic for many customers. Comcast first denied it was throttling traffic, then said it was doing so only to protect customers from network congestion.

The appeals court ruling may call into question the FCC's authority to move forward with formal net neutrality rules. The FCC in October launched a rulemaking process to formalize the net neutrality principles in place since 2005.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/193557/court_rules_against_fccs_comcast_net_neutrality_decision.html

[MinM]

5. A Man, a Plan - Broadband

On the Media had good piece about this a few weeks ago...

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/03/19/01

After many months of fact-finding and opinion gathering, the FCC at last released its long-awaited National Broadband Plan. But will it bring better internet speeds at lower prices? Consumer advocates and the FCC's broadband chief weigh in...

Another question might be even if the FCC reaches all of its targets, what exactly will have been gained? The stated goal is universal actual 100 megabits per second of download speed by the year 2020, which is exactly where South Korea is - today.

And it looks like The Atlantic was premature in writing Cable TV's obituary...

Cable TV Is Doomed
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/03/cable-tv-is-doomed/37675/

:tv: Comcast seems bound and determined to keep US in the broadband wilderness. :web:
:sarcasm: