Panelists Debate FCC, State Authority Over Internet; Cable Lobbyists Urge FCC Action in U-NII-1 Band

摘要

Panelists at a Jan. 28-29 Practising Law Institute seminar on broadband and cable law disagreed on the extent of FCC and state commission authority over the recent appeals court decision that overturned the FCC's anti-blocking and nondiscrimination open Internet rules. Barbara Esbin, managing partner at Cinnamon Mueller LLC, said that she sees no meaningful constraint on the FCC's authority over the Internet in light of the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that upheld the FCC's treatment of section 706 (advanced telecommunications incentives) as an affirmative grant of authority to regulate in the Internet space.