FCC Extends Net Neutrality Comment Deadline

The FCC has given commenters a little more time to weigh in on the proposed changes to the FCC's 2015 net neutrality rules, but not the eight weeks they were looking for.

Daniel Kahn, chief of the Competition Policy Division of the Wireline Competition Bureau, said Friday that the Aug. 16 deadline for reply comments has been extended to Aug. 30.

Public Knowledge, Access Now, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Consumers Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Engine Advocacy, National Consumer Law Center, the World Wide Web Foundation, and the Writers Guild of America West had sought an eight-week extension saying that was needed to give adequate time to work through the initial comments and reply to them.

Related: Singer Proposes Net Neutrality Complaint Tribunal

NCTA and others opposed the extension, including citing millions of allegedly fraudulent comments and many others that simply state a position for or against.

Kahn said that "while it is the policy of the Commission that ‘extensions shall not be routinely granted,’ we find that an extension of the reply comment deadline is appropriate in this case in order to allow interested parties to respond to the record in this proceeding."

He said that would be enough time to "to analyze the technical, legal, and policy arguments raised by initial commenters."

Related: ISP, Edge Groups Talk Net Neutrality Legislation

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.