Title II Gets Texas-Sized Vetting

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said the FCC shouldn't be hiding in the nation's capital on the issue of new network neutrality rules.

That came in opening remarks for Pai's field hearing on that issue Oct. 21 in College Station, Tex.

He said he was disappointed his other colleagues were not there, but his fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly sent a letter saying he wished he could be there but had to attend the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, Korea, per a previous commitment.

Panelists at the forum included free market fans like Donna Nelson, chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, who said that regulating broadband under Title II would be moving backward and create barriers to entry.

And Joe Portman, president of Alamo Broadband, a fixed wireless broadband provider, who said regulating his business under Title II would be "pretty much a terrible idea borne of good intentions." He said among the unintended consequences that could result include disclosure requirements whose costs his business could not bear; and ISP trolling--like patent trolling---for ISPs in violation for new regs.

Read more at B&C here.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.