Net Neutrality Still on the Agenda

The FCC released its agenda for the Dec. 21 public meeting and a vote on proposed network neutrality rules remains on the docket.

"The Commission will consider a Report and Order adopting basic rules of the road to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition, and free expression," the sunshine notice says, which is issued a week before the meeting.

But the item is actually second on the agenda after a vote on transitioning voice-only 911 to a broadband-enabled network.

Chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed expanding and clarifying network neutrality rules under Title I authority, which has gotten the qualified support of industry. He has two definite votes against in the two Republican commissioners, but at least one Democratic vote is not a lock, according to an aide,, and could depend on edits and language changes to the draft before the vote.

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.