Comcast on Net Neutrality: Cool Off

COMCAST ON NET NEUTRALITY: COOL OFF
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
The political battle over network neutrality deserves a “cooling-off period” to give federal regulators time to study business relationships between cable broadband-access providers and Web-based content and communications providers, a senior Comcast Corp. official said Wednesday. Comcast external affairs vice president Joe Waz said that before Congress takes any steps to regulate broadband-access providers in ways it might regret, the Federal Communications Commission should be given time to collect and analyze market developments in an effort to allow facts to triumph over fiction. “I propose that we start with a cooling-off period,” Waz said. A House bill (H.R. 5252) would allow the FCC to fine cable companies up to $500,000 per offense for violating the agency’s network-neutrality principles. While cable is troubled by the bill, network-neutrality proponents consider it weak and want more regulatory power given to the FCC. Senate legislation (S. 2686) sponsored by Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) would offer a different approach. It would require the FCC to monitor the market, file annual reports and make recommendations to address problems it had uncovered.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6333710.html?display=Breaking+News