FCC “Looking Into” Comcast-Level 3 Dispute

NEW YORK: The spat between Comcast Corporation and Level 3 Communications deepens, as the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) takes interest in the issue.

FCC chairman Juilus Genachowski said he was looking into Level 3’s allegations that Comcast was charging extra fees for video. At a news conference in Washington, Genachowski said it was "premature to comment" but promised that the FCC was "looking into it." The FCC has been considering rules that could preserve net neutrality and is set to finally vote on rules this month that will keep the Internet open, with its meeting set for December 21.

Level 3, which carries traffic for customers such as Netflix, has made claims that Comcast set up an Internet “toll booth” when the cable company began requiring Level 3 to pay it for sending data over the Comcast network to customers.

Comcast has fired back, saying the dispute is not about being an "open Internet," but rather is "nothing but a good old-fashioned commercial peering dispute, the kind that Level 3 has found itself in before." A statement from Joe Waz, the senior VP of external affairs and public policy counsel at Comcast, to Sharon Gillett, the chief or the wireline competition bureau at the FCC, explained: "Notwithstanding Level 3’s claims, this is not about online video, it is not about ‘paid prioritization,’ it does not involve putting ‘toll booths’ on the Internet, and it is not about net neutrality. Indeed, if anything, it is Level 3 that is seeking ‘non-neutral’ treatment that would favor its network traffic over those of all its competitors."

Congresswoman Maxine Waters has sent her own letter to the FCC, urging Genachowski to "carefully review" Level 3’s allegations. Waters also included in the letter her "ongoing concerns about the impact the Comcast-NBC merger could have on consumers and competition within the already heavily-consolidated media industry."