According to
an industry source and seconded by a source close to one of the FCC
commissioners, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is looking to get net neutrality
stakeholders back together this week to talk about a compromise on
network neutrality regs along the lines of a scuttled bipartisan
legislative solution, with the goal of moving something by the end of the year.
"I do expect them to
have [a stakeholder meeting]," said the FCC source, "if they have not
already." A source with one of the parties to past industry talks at the
FCC and elsewhere said there had been no weekend
meeting, but a source with another of those parties said they were expecting one this week.
Talks about a legislative fix for network neutrality began at the FCC before moving outsidethe building after a Google/Verizon side agreement threw a monkey wrench into those,
then over to Capitol Hill where the bill collapsed under the weight of
Republican opposition. The goal now would be voting something out by the
end of the
year, pinned to the FCC's existing Title I regime for overseeing
broadband rather than reclassifying under Title II, which got strong
pushback from some House Democrats as well as virtually all
the Republicans.
The FCC
source also says the chairman was considering pushing the December
meeting date back from Dec. 15 to Dec. 20 or 21 to give him more time to
line up support before circulating an order.
The meeting had not been moved as of late Sunday, according to an FCC spokesperson.
A source
familiar with the FCC's agenda said that no meeting with stakeholders
had yet been held and none had yet been scheduled for this week.
A Saturday meeting
would have had to be held without National Cable &
Telecommunications Association President, Kyle McSlarrow, one of the
major
stakeholders and
past participant in FCC and outside negotiations. He was scheduled to be
in Michigan for a family football outing.
