Company / division: FCC
AT&T and Verizon just got a free pass from the FCC to divide up the internet – The Verge (Feb 3, 2017)
The Verge is what I call a strict net neutrality advocate – the only conception of net neutrality it considers acceptable is one under which there is no prioritization and no differential charging of broadband traffic for any reason. As such, it has taken a hard line on programs like T-Mobile’s Music Freedom and BingeOn programs, and especially on programs such as AT&T’s zero-rating of DirecTV traffic and Verizon’s zero-rating of its Go90 video service. The FCC began looking into these approaches towards the end of last year, but hadn’t reached any final conclusions, and new FCC chair Ajit Pai has now closed the investigations without taking any action except to void the preliminary conclusions that were reached. The FCC’s own NN order from 2015 explicitly contemplated but didn’t ban zero-rating and sponsored data, saying only that it would address these as and when they breached other standards such as “no-unreasonable interference/disadvantage”. It was under that broad remit that the FCC was investigating the carriers in late 2016, but Pai always opposed these investigations and has now closed them down. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, how you feel about this depends on how strict you feel the definition of net neutrality should be – if, like the Verge, you’re a strict NNer, then you’re outraged, especially because this might be the beginning of a broader dismantling of net neutrality. If you take a narrower view of what NN should mean, this is not a problem per se.
via The Verge
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Scraps Set-Top Proposal – Variety (Jan 31, 2017)
This was inevitable – the STB proposal was one of two issues, along with net neutrality, which the incoming chair of the FCC was expected to dump as he took the helm. And along with net neutrality, these were popular issues championed by consumer rights groups and some big consumer technology companies. However, it’s also true that the impact of ditching these policy issues may not be as widespread as feared – I wrote a piece last week about the real likely impact of net neutrality rules being dismantled, and I’ve always been skeptical that the STB reforms proposed would actually bring about meaningful change in the industry. Previous attempts (see CableCard) had failed, and it wasn’t clear to me that the new approaches would be more user friendly or likely to deliver greater openness around the boxes we get to use to watch TV. Realistically, positive change in the TV market is more likely to come from increasing competitive pressure leading to concessions by major legacy players to the new world order (though we’re not there yet) – and now that the FCC has dropped STB reform that’s the only kind of progress we’ll see regardless.
via Variety
Trump’s new FCC chief is Ajit Pai, and he wants to destroy net neutrality – The Verge (Jan 23, 2017)
It’s the nature of the beast that all regulatory appointments quickly get seen through the very narrow lens of a single issue that’s important to the tech industry, and that’s the case here. Ajit Pai is, as is the case with the rest of the FCC commissioners, a smart guy with a set of nuanced views on a variety of complex subjects. Yes, he’s clearly going to do what he can to overturn the FCC’s net neutrality rulings, but his time at the FCC will be about far more than that. On net neutrality, how you feel about this appointment will depend on how you feel about net neutrality – not just whether you’re in favor of it in a vague, general sense, but the specifics of what you think it should cover. The reality is that there has never been much danger of the major US broadband providers doing some of the things basic NN regulations would prevent even in the absence of regulation. But there are NN purists who insist that any unequal treatment of traffic is unacceptable, and they likely will be disappointed by what happens under a Pai Commission – AT&T’s preferential treatment of DirecTV content, for example, will definitely be just fine with the incoming FCC. On the other hand, I don’t think we’ll see any carriers blocking competing content or anything else along those lines even if the net neutrality rules are thrown out.
via Trump’s new FCC chief is Ajit Pai, and he wants to destroy net neutrality – The Verge