[Satellite TODAY Insider 12-06-10] The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled it will not reclassify broadband from “Information Service” to “Telecommunications Service,” under the U.S. Communications Act of 1934, the FCC announced Dec. 1.
    The initiative, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement, will ensure unblocked, non-discriminatory access to the Internet as part of the commission’s pledge to maintain net neutrality.
The announcement is in response to a judgment issued by the U.S. Washington D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in April favoring Comcast — an ancillary authority case in which the FCC had taken action against the cable operator for blocking use by subscribers on its cable modem lines of certain peer-to-peer networking software.
    Communications Law Attorney Owen Kurtin called the FCC’s decision “common sense” and a victory for net neutrality proponents. “The FCC in making its announcement tacitly abandoned the ‘third-way’ approach it proposed on May 6, which would attempt to reverse its own arguments that broadband service is an information service, not subject to telephone-like common carrier regulation. At the time, the FCC saw the substantially unregulated information service classification as the best way to preserve the Internetʼs open access, low entry barrier structure. Subsequent events convinced the FCC that it had made a mistake,” he said.
    Genachowski said the FCC initiatives outlined in the ruling could go into effect as early as Dec. 21. However, the U.S. Supreme Court could still overturn the FCC’s decision. “The Supreme Court could decide that the FCC are overreaching and that the
   Brand X decision could be reasonably extended by affirming limited extent of the FCCʼs ancillary authority. The rulemaking will probably rely on Telecommunications Act authority to ensure broadband deployment. It is not a guarantee of net neutrality, but it offers better odds than did the reclassification of third-way proposal,” Kurtin said.

Related Stories-

FCC Responds to Comcast   Via Satellite   August 1, 2010
Where there is a will there is a way or a third way in U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lingo. In its June 17 open meeting, the FCC released a Notice of Inquiry in order to re-examine the regulatory classification of broadband…

Broadband Pendulum Swings: FCC Hoist With Its Own Petard   Via Satellite   June 1, 2010
In February, we discussed satellite broadband and the pending release of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) s National Broadband Plan . Released in March (available at www.broadband.gov), the plan was packed with goals such as 100…

U.K. Broadcast Landscape Unlikely to see Major Regulatory Shifts    Satellite News   May 24, 2010
[Satellite News 05-24-10] While the U.K. broadcasting market has seen radical changes in the way people consume video, Ofcom, the British broadcasting regulatory board, working with the United Kingdom s new conservative coalition government, will…