By Thomas Lenard
Published in The Hill on October 20, 2015
Earlier this month, House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) took aim at the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposal to extend a longstanding cable regulatory regime to new Internet streaming services. When the senior Democrat on the committee criticizes a major proposal from the Democratic-controlled FCC, it is news. Presumably, the FCC is listening.
The FCC is proposing to “modernize” its definition of Multichannel Video Programming Distributor (MVPD) to include video services delivered over the Internet in addition to cable and satellite video providers. The proposal would apply to prescheduled streams of video programming, which the proposal refers to as “linear programming.” It would thus not apply to on-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu.
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