Comcast tests FCC’s resolve, rules on network neutrality

With the Federal Communications Commission’s strong new net neutrality rules under attack in the courts and by particular business plans, it should come as little surprise that one of the main companies at the center of the ongoing struggle is Comcast.

The broadband giant has played a key role in the net neutrality debate over the last decade, serving as both an obstacle to the FCC’s efforts to require an open Internet and a symbol of the dangers of a world without one. And now that those rules are in place, Comcast is offering perhaps the most important test of their limits with a streaming video service called Stream TV. Comcast has designed Stream TV to take advantage of a loophole in the net neutrality rules, a move that could allow it “to get a free pass to violate net neutrality,” said John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge.

What makes Stream TV distinct from other services is Comcast’s contention that the reason Stream TV is treated differently is because it’s completely separate from broadband access and isn’t delivered over the Internet at all. “It never touches the Internet,” said Sena Fitzmaurice, a vice president of government communications at Comcast. “It uses a totally different infrastructure.” “It works exactly as Netflix from the customer perspective,” said Bergmayer. “The only difference from a customer perspective is one counts against their data cap and one doesn’t.” Comcast’s Fitzmaurice disputes the idea that there are few differences between Stream TV and Internet-delivered streaming services.