After weeks of public outcry, Netflix Inc. brought its concerns about Internet neutrality directly to regulators this week in meetings with Federal Communications Commission staff, Reuters reported.
The video streaming company has been outspoken in its push to do away with fees that content companies pay Internet service providers to deliver their video and other data to consumers, according to Reuters.
Netflix recently agreed to pay such fees to Comcast Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. to ensure smooth delivery of its videos, but it argues they weaken the principle of net neutrality, which says all Internet traffic should be treated equally, Reuters reported.
Netflix's representatives brought that message to the FCC commissioners' offices in meeting with advisers over the course of several days this week, the sources said, as the agency prepares to rewrite so-called Open Internet rules that regulate net neutrality by setting limits to how Internet providers treat web traffic crossing their networks, according to Reuters.
The sources spoke anonymously because the meetings have not been publicly revealed yet, Reuters reported.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has drafted rules that would soften the agency's stance on pay-for-priority to comply with a court rejection of earlier rules, according to Reuters. If the deal is adopted, the FCC would allow some "commercially reasonable" deals where content companies can pay Internet providers to give priority to their traffic and ensure its smooth delivery to users.
Though Wheeler has since said he would not tolerate moves to "degrade the service for all for the benefit of a few," public interest groups and the Web community at large worry that the rules may create "fast lanes" for those who pay up, Reuters reported.
"Tolls coming for the Web thanks to FCC. What is the FCC thinking?" Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings posted on his Facebook page last week when the news of the proposal leaked out, according to Reuters.
The FCC is expected to vote on May 15 to formally propose Wheeler's rules, and at a cable industry trade show in Los Angeles on Thursday, FCC commissioners said they are taking seriously the responses to the agency's proposals, Reuters reported.
