House K.O.’s Net Neutrality

WASHINGTON — Legislative language to make the controversial concept of network neutrality the law of the land failed in the U.S. House of Representatives late Thursday night.

In an amendment to an otherwise widely supported telecom reform act, lawmakers rejected by a “>H.R. 5252), would permit national video franchising for Internet Protocol television (IPTV) providers in hopes of spurring competition in the pay television market.

Unlike the Markey statutory language approach, under the COPE Act the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on a case-by-case basis would deal with allegations of network neutrality violations.

The legislation would also prohibit the FCC from creating additional network neutrality rules beyond the non-binding principles adopted by the agency last year.

“The bill… seeks to strike the right balance between ensuring that the public Internet remains an open, vibrant marketplace and ensuring that Congress does not hand the FCC a blank check to regulate Internet services,” House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.), author of the bill, said in introducing the legislation.

“We do need the FCC to stop the cheats without killing honest creativity. We don’t need anybody to be the first Secretary of the Internet.”

In addition, the legislation mandates Voice over IP &nbsp providers make E911 services available to consumers and allows state and local governments the option to provide their own telecommunications, cable or information services.

The bill passed on a 321-111