Charting a new path for network neutrality

[Commentary] Should the three-way deal come together between Time Warner Cable, Comcast and Charter, it could -- or at least in my view should -- open up a new chapter in the unfinished story of network neutrality.

The deal would come as the Federal Communications Commission is in the midst of formulating a new approach to enforcing net neutrality standards now that the court has vacated its formal net neutrality regulations. That convergence of circumstances offers an opportunity for the FCC and antitrust regulators together to take a more comprehensive view of net neutrality than the FCC’s previous rules would admit. Should a deal result in Comcast taking over Time Warner Cable’s systems in New York City, New England and North Carolina, as analyst Craig Moffett anticipates, Comcast would have something on the order of 25 million subscribers, on systems blanketing most of the East Coast of the US. That would be a very formidable hurdle for any over-the-top service to get over unless it was willing to play ball with Comcast. The merger review process, however, offers regulators an opportunity the impose some limits on how high Comcast and Charter could raise those hurdles, particularly since Comcast is already operating under a consent decree, giving the government a lot of leverage. [Paul Sweeting is Principal, Concurrent Media Strategies]