Jeff Pulver files a petition with the FCC to get them to lay off internet TV. God’s work. To read chunks of the summary, click below for more.
Internet Video is an American-led phenomenon that allows professionals and non-
professionals alike to produce a wide variety of high-quality video content and to make it
available to anyone, anywhere, at any time, and at little or no incremental cost to anyone. This is
a remarkable achievement. For decades, distribution of video programming required both
specialized infrastructure and limited public resources. These substantial barriers to entry
resulted in pervasive regulation of the broadcasters and cable system operators that serve as
stewards of scarce public resources.
Internet Video shares none of the conditions that provided the rationale for traditional
broadcast and cable regulation. From a technical standpoint, Internet Video is simply a piece of
code, a software application riding over the Internet Protocol (IP). Internet Video is not tied to
underlying network infrastructure in the same ways that cable and broadcast-based video content
currently is tethered.
A technology that eliminates previous barriers to free speech, and makes the free press
even more accessible to and by all, should remain free of unnecessary regulations that were
uniquely intended for the environment of legacy video platforms. Unfortunately, this outcome is
far from certain. The European Commission is already threatening to regulate certain
“audiovisual media services,” including specifically content distributed over the Internet through
live streaming and webcasting. This and other threats to impose legacy broadcast or cable
regulation on Internet Video burden the continued growth of what is emerging as an open and
flexible platform for video publishers and a vibrant and diverse source of new content for
consumers.
A grant of the requested relief is consistent with the Communications Act; the pro-
competitive, deregulatory policy goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996; and Commission
rules and precedent. Grant of this Petition will provide regulatory certainty that will promote
additional investment and innovation, continued deployment of broadband facilities, and the
United States’ role as a leader in new approaches to the production and distribution of video
content over the Internet.
