The FCC has turned down one of the first business complaints under net neutrality

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One of the first businesses to invoke the government's network neutrality rules against an Internet provider has just lost his bid for federal intervention. Commercial Network Services, a San Diego (CA)-based company that uses a series of Web cams to broadcast live images of the city to remote viewers, told the Federal Communications Commission in June that Time Warner Cable was hindering its ability to reach consumers with its video traffic.

CNS's chief executive, Barry Bahrami, argued that Time Warner Cable was demanding an unacceptable toll to transport the video traffic to viewers' computers and mobile devices, even as other Internet providers were carrying that content for free. But legal experts cast doubts on Bahrami's complaint because the net neutrality rules don't explicitly prohibit companies from negotiating private carriage agreements for so-called "interconnection." They merely give the FCC the ability to probe deals that it finds suspicious and potentially anticompetitive. All that culminated recently in an e-mailed note from the FCC to CNS, according to Bahrami, explaining that "we regret that you were not satisfied with attempts by FCC staff to facilitate a more satisfactory resolution." Despite the apparent rejection, CNS is considering escalating the issue as a formal legal complaint.


The FCC has turned down one of the first business complaints under net neutrality