Suddenlink CEO Quizzes FCC Commissioners On Dispute-Related Blocking

Jerry Kent, co-chair of INTX and CEO of Suddenlink, looked to get some answers from commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission on whether blocking his subscribers' online access to online content was a network neutrality violation and, if not, why. In a Q&A session following a panel discussion, Kent said as far as he knew, no Internet service provider was blocking or throttling traffic, "unless something was going on that I'm not aware of." He said that he "got" that the FCC was reclassifying ISPs under Title II common carrier regulations to make sure nothing happened in the future. But he suggested there was unreasonable blocking going on now that was not being addressed. "Today, we have programmers who block access to their websites when they have a dispute with an ISP," he said. He pointed to the major dispute he had with a "Very large programmer (he did not say Viacom, but suggested everyone was aware of who he was talking about). Who has an address from Suddenlink." Kent said that a DirecTV or Dish customer getting Internet access from Suddenlink was "theoretically paying for that content,” then asked them whether they thought it was a network neutrality violation and, if not, why not.

Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Ajit Pai begged off, pointing out that they did not support the net neutrality rules. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel agreed it was "flat out a problem" when any consumer can't access lawful content online, “which certainly sounded like network neutrality language." But she said, "I don't think that falls squarely within our network neutrality rules." She did say she shared Kent's frustration. "I think consumers should always have access to the bounty of the Web."