Powell Pledges Support for Net Neutrality Bill

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association is solidly behind the Republican legislative effort to head off the FCC's reclassification of Internet access under Title II common carrier regs and is giving that support full voice in the Jan. 21 House Energy & Commerce Communications Subcommittee hearing on draft legislation.

NCTA President Michael Powell, who as FCC chair helped preserve the information services definition of ISP's, plans to tell the subcommittee that the bill represents "a new path forward" that "achieves the aims of every stakeholder." That is according to his prepared testimony.

But Powell also signaled that NCTA is "entirely open" to changes in the bill "that would bring the two sides fully together." The "fully" may have been a stretch, since Democrats have not offered support to date for the Republican-backed proposal.

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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.