T-Mobile U.S. management did not seem concerned about the issue when it unveiled the offer, noting the platform was open and free to all content providers as long as they met a few technical requirements.
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Critics of the FCC’s rules said they would prevent innovation since companies have to seek permission from the commission before unveiling new offerings.
So it looks like T-Mobile won’t have to worry about the FCC taking action against Binge On, at least for now.
“And so what we’re going to be doing is watching the Binge On product, keeping an eye on it, and to measure it against the general conduct rule“, Wheeler told reporters.
Nearly three dozen Republican members of Congress, including the leadership and membership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Communications Subcommittee and Small Business Committee, have called on FCC Chairman Tom wheeler to make the small business exemption from the FCC’s enhanced transparency rules under the new Open Internet order permanent. This is presumably, as consumers do have the option to opt out if they want to.
Initial participants include Crackle, Encore, ESPN, Fox Sports, Fox Sports Go, HBO Now, HBO Go, Hulu, MLB, Movieplex, NBC Sports, Netflix, Sling TV, Sling Box, SHOWTIME, STARZ, T-Mobile TV, Univision Deportes, Ustream, Vessel, Vevo and VUDU. The Binge On portion starts at around the 47:00 mark. The agency’s net neutrality rule adopted in February was meant to encourage competition and innovation, and “clearly this meets both of those criteria”, Wheeler said. “It’s highly innovative and highly competitive”, Mr. Wheeler said. Wheeler today said T-Mobile’s Binge On proves that hasn’t come to pass. Well that certainly didn’t happen here. He said that under the Internet conduct standard nobody can get certainty, which he suggested was illustrated by Wheeler’s statement that is was pro-competitive, followed by the signal that it still needed to be vetted under that general conduct standard.
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However, these were only minor concerns, as what seemed to be a possibly larger issue was how Binge On fitted in with the rules regarding Net Neutrality. It says that a carrier should not be in a position to unreasonably interfere with the access between someone who’s trying to get to an edge provider and an edge provider who is trying to get to a consumer.
