FCC Net-Neutrality Rules Sent to Register

The Federal Communications Commission's network-neutrality rules, which reclassify Internet service providers as telecoms under Title II regulation, are closer to taking effect after the agency this week (on April 1) sent the final order to the Federal Register for publication.

Once it is published, which could be as early as next week, the rules go into effect within the next 60 days, which will likely trigger more lawsuits.

Critics of the deal have 10 days after the publication to file lawsuits if they want to be in the lottery to pick circuits, 60 days otherwise, although a couple of suits have already been filed – and assigned to the D.C. federal appeals court – by USTelecom and Alamo Broadband, which said they did so out of an abundance of caution in case there is a determination that parties must file for review within 10 days of the date of release or issuance of the FCC’s order, rather than 10 days after publication in the Federal Register.

For the full story go to Multichannel.com.

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.