Adding more fuel to the fiery political debate over cable Internet access, an industry group is asking a federal court to give local governments authority to regulate cable networks.
On Tuesday, the OpenNet Coalition -- an advocacy group pushing to force cable companies to open their networks to competing Internet service providers -- filed a legal brief in a closely watched case in Portland, Oregon."Local regulation has played a critical role in protecting consumers from cable operators wielding monopoly power, and Congress has emphatically preserved that role in its cable legislation," coalition members wrote in a statement accompanying the filing.
The issue, dubbed "forced access" by the cable industry and "open access" by those on the other side of the debate, focuses on whether cable companies offering high-speed Internet access should have to share their networks with competitors.
In early June, Portland became the first city to require AT&T to open access to competing Internet service providers. AT&T sued the city, but a federal court upheld the city's decision. Now an appeal is pending before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and parties on both sides of the issue are awaiting a ruling.
A key part of the debate is whether rules for cable access should be set by local officials or federal regulators. The Federal Communications Commission has been pushing for a national policy, but several municipalities, including Broward County, Florida, Portland, and San Francisco, have weighed in on cable regulation.
The OpenNet Coalition's filing comes about a month after Excite@Home (ATHM) -- the cable Internet service controlled by AT&T -- filed a brief of its own warning that if the Portland ordinance is upheld, it will draw local governments into "complicated, burdensome, and costly regulation" of Internet services.
Arguments in the case are expected to begin in late October or early November.
