Smallest Operators Have Big Problems With Title II

The American Cable Association continues to push the Federal Communications Commission to exempt its members —small and mid-sized carriers— from the new transparency and enforcement obligations of a Title II regime, most recently with an emphasis on "small."  

FCC officials have signaled that they are not providing a carve-out for smaller carriers from the network-neutrality order, which will propose Using Title II authority —in combination with other authority— to support new Open Internet regulations.  

In the most recent effort, two dozen of the ACA's smallest members (those with fewer than 1,000 residential subs) wrote the commission to register their unhappiness and make their case.  

The ACA has been arguing that its members lack the ability to harm an Open Internet, a point the smallest operators emphasized, and that new regs would fall disproportionately on its members, who lack the scope and resources to shoulder new regulatory burdens.

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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.