Zero Rating Opponents Plan FCC Complaint Photo Op

Opponents of zero rating "schemes," in which broadband providers exclude some video service from data usage plans, are planning an FCC photo op for Friday, June 24.

Groups including Free Press, Fight for the Future, and the Center for Media Justice, plan to deliver over 100,000 complaints to FCC headquarters backing a regulatory review of such plans.

Related: FCC Asked to Open Formal Proceeding on Zero-Rating

The FCC is currently vetting zero rating plans under its Open Internet order general conduct standard—the order "created a general Open Internet conduct standard that ISPs cannot harm consumers or edge providers"—but has yet to announce any conclusions about whether or not it violates that standard.

"Tomorrow, activists will call attention to this latest act of deception by delivering more than 100,000 complaints from Americans calling on the FCC to investigate zero-rating, in a massive, photogenic package outside the FCC’s monthly meeting," the groups said in a press release, adding for emphasis that it would be a "photo opportunity."

The FCC is holding its monthly meeting Friday morning, but none of the items related to the issue.

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.