Supremes Extend Time for Title II Appeal

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published

The Supreme Court has agreed to give ISPs more time to decide whether to appeal a D.C. Court's ruling upholding the FCC's Title II Open Internet order.

The court granted a petition by USTelecom and others to extend the deadline for appeal (filing a write of certiorari) from July 30 to Sept. 28.

ISPs pointed out that the new FCC might have mooted that appeal by September--if it has voted a proposal from FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to reverse the Title II classification and review the rules.

Seeking the extension in addition to USTelecom were NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, CTIA–The Wireless Association, the American Cable Association, AT&T, CenturyLink , Alamo Broadband, TechFreedom and various individuals including VoIP pioneer Daniel Berninger.

The FCC has sought comment on the proposal by the Republican FCC majority under chairman Ajit Pai to reclassify internet access—wired and wireless, fixed and mobile, customer facing and interconnections—as an information service not subject to Title II and to review whether rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization are necessary. 

Those comments were dueJuly 17(initial comments) andAug. 16(replies).

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.