FCC free Internet plan faces lawmaker opposition

Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), expected to chair the Senate Commerce Committee in the next Congress, is expected to ask the Federal Communications Commission today to delay voting on a controversial auction of radio spectrum, which includes a requirement for free Internet services. He'd prefer the FCC refrain from taking up major items while it oversees the February 2009 transition to digital television. The FCC is scheduled to consider the action, known as the AWS-3, at its meeting next on Thursday.