How Will 'Net Neutrality' Affect Radio?

Future Access Will Be Affected

FCC Chairman JULIUS GENACHOWSKI's "third way" to regulate Net Neutrality continues to be a hot topic, and with more and more radio listenership online -- and continued growth of social networking as an important radio tool -- any changes to how information flows on the net will affect radio.

THE WASHINGTON POST reports, "Thwarted in his campaign to set government control over consumer access to the Internet, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Chairman JULIUS GENACHOWSKI has been trying to salvage his efforts by negotiating directly with a handful of the biggest Web firms and network service providers. His goal is for those firms to put aside their differences on how Internet service providers control content on their networks and agree on legislation that GENACHOWSKI can present to Congress."

Critics feel GENACHOWSKI is favoring business access to the net over the consumer, and THE NEW YORK TIMES reports two of the largest players on the web, GOOGLE and VERIZON "are nearing an agreement that could allow VERIZON to speed some online content to Internet users more quickly if the content’s creators are willing to pay for the privilege. The charges could be paid by companies, like YOUTUBE, owned by GOOGLE, for example, to VERIZON, one of the nation’s leading Internet service providers, to ensure that its content received priority as it made its way to consumers. The agreement could eventually lead to higher charges for Internet users."

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