Comcast Wants Net Neutrality Protections Similar to Those in the Leahy/Matsui Bill
Comcast backs “open Internet protections similar to those” that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., outlined in legislation proposing a ban on paid prioritization deals, Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen told Leahy in…
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a letter. Leahy had asked that Comcast and other major ISPs pledge to forgo paid prioritization deals (see 1410230041). Cohen responded in a letter dated Oct. 24 that Leahy’s office released to us Thursday. Cohen reiterated his confidence that the FCC will have new net neutrality rules in place before 2018, when its net neutrality obligations enacted as a condition of Comcast's NBCUniversal acquisition will expire. The FCC should craft “stable” rules using Communications Act Section 706, Cohen said, saying reclassifying broadband under Title II would be “risky and unnecessary.” Cohen dismissed the idea of an ISP pledge. Net neutrality rules “will only be meaningful if they offer all consumers of all companies the same protections,” Cohen said. “Voluntary pledges by individual ISPs are not an adequate substitute for industry-wide rules -- whether promulgated by the FCC or enacted by Congress.”