Senate Committee Backs National Cable Franchising, but Drops Net Neutrality

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Senate Committee Backs National Cable Franchising, but Drops Net Neutrality

8:10 am on July 1, 2006 | Category: Telecom Services, Internet, Television, Regulation

In a decision that is sure to please telecom carriers, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has given its approval to a new piece of legislation that could dramatically reform the cable and communications industry by letting telephone companies easily offer fiber optic television service on a national basis.

This is bad news for incumbent cable carriers, as well as municipal governments which currently have the power to grant local cable franchises on an individual basis.

The new legislation has the potential to quickly increase competition in the cable TV market, but concerns remain that it gives telephone carriers too much power.

This is especially true now that the Commerce Committee has killed the so called net neutrality amendment, which would have prevented Internet Service Providers from delivering internet traffic at different speeds based on ownership, origin, or destination. The amendment was just one vote short of the required majority.

“That means for the first time we are going to have a two-tiered Internet,” said Olympia Snowe, a Senator from Maine who voted against her fellow Republicans. “Broadband operators will be able to pick winners and losers, they will be able to choose the Web sites of their choice.”

Senator Ted Stevens, however, a Republican from Alaska, argued that “we haven’t seen anything yet that indicates there is discrimination.”

“If this amendment is adopted, this bill will never come out of conference (with lawmakers),” Stevens went on to say, suggesting that the amendment would jeopardize the long-term success of the bill itself.

Although he is technically right that no notable discrimination has occurred yet, it is only a matter of time before ISPs begin to use the unfair advantages that they are given. At that point in time, politicians will likely face a long and arduous battle to return the internet to its free and unhampered state.