WASHINGTON — As more people use their Internet connection to watch movies and TV shows, fears have grown that broadband providers such as AT&T and Comcast will become online gatekeepers, using their control of Web pipes to block online video competitors such as Netflix and protect their own pay-TV businesses.
That potential conflict is at the heart of a scheduled vote by the Federal Communications Commission today on new rules to govern how broadband providers manage traffic over their networks, a pivotal moment in the debate over “network neutrality.” The outcome could affect the ability of Silicon Valley giants such as Netflix and Apple to deliver movies and TV shows online for a fraction of the cost of a cable subscription.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is attempting to settle a years-long battle that has pitted Web companies that want unfettered access to customers online against telecommunications giants that are loath to cede control over networks on which they’ve spent billions of dollars.
Genachowski’s plan would bar broadband operators from blocking access to any legal website or application, or from transmitting traffic over the Web in a discriminatory way — for example, by degrading the quality of an online video website that threatens to draw customers away from their own video or cable offerings.
But the plan would give broadband companies a green light to charge heavy Web users more than casual ones. People who stream a lot of Netflix or YouTube video to their laptops or TVs might pay more for their Internet service than those who only send e-mails or read news. Such “usage-based pricing” plans could give broadband companies a better return on investment and encourage them to beef up their networks, Genachowski said.
Genachowski’s proposal, which he described in broad strokes during a speech this month but has declined to make public before the vote, has drawn mixed reaction from Silicon Valley.
Several venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, including Craigslist’s Craig Newmark, said it struck a sensible balance between keeping the Internet open to users and entrepreneurs without saddling broadband operators with burdensome rules that might dissuade them from upgrading networks.
“It doesn’t have everything that everyone wanted,” said Rey Ramsey, president and CEO of TechNet, a network of top tech-industry executives.
“Down the road, it will probably have to be updated, especially if there’s any abuse. But it gives a little to get a little.”
