The Senate Commerce Committee continued with its mark-up of telecom reform legislation today and the most controversial amendment to the bill, one that would bar broadband service providers from discriminating against, blocking or impairing any broadband service, failed to pass by a tie vote of 11 to 11. Ten Democrats joined Republican Maine Senator Olympia Snow in voting for the tougher net neutrality amendment that she introduced along with Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND).
In a statement, Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said
Over the course of two days, the Senate Commerce Committee handed control of Internet content to the telephone and cable companies, and control over the design of consumer electronics to the movie and recording industries. In each case, big companies win, and consumers lose.
The tie vote, however, does not bode well for the bill’s ultimate passage in the Senate and is the closest vote yet in either the House or the Senate on the issue of net neutrality. In a statement, the ItsOurNet coalition acknowledged the closeness of this fight.
The intense debate that resulted in today’s tie vote (11-11) on Net Neutrality clearly underscores the Senate Commerce Committee’s discomfort with abandoning rules that until now have ensured an open, innovative, and competitive Internet marketplace.
The Committee did vote out another controversial provision of the bill, the broadcast flag, which severely restricts the amount of broadcast content that can be copied. The flag wasn’t, however, extended to audio, as many had feared. Public Knowledge’s Sohn said
In approving the broadcast flag for video, the Committee extended the control Hollywood will have over consumers’ content that they lawfully receive. Under the flag, Hollywood, acting through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will have a significant role in how consumer electronics are designed and manufactured. Once again, consumers will have their rights short-circuited when it comes to using their devices lawfully.
Earlier in the day, the Committee rejected an amendment introduced by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) that would have mandated the sale of cable programming on a la carte, or per channel, basis. In a statement, Kyle McSlarrow, CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said
We are very pleased with the defeat of the amendment and will continue to oppose unnecessary government regulation of the pricing and packaging of video services, which most studies show will diminish diversity in programming and result in higher prices for fewer channels.
Update: I originally said that the bill doesn’t extend the broadcast flag to digital audio. However, the underlying bill contains sections on digital audio, which directs the FCC to establish an advisory committee known as the Digital Audio Review Board which is assigned the task of developing digital audio copy protections.
Cynthia Brumfield at 5:23 PM|Comments(0)
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