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Net neutrality meets election-year reality Bill is stalling in Senate; telecom firms push for video [via freepress]

Although both sides continue to press lawmakers to act, most observers say Congress is too preoccupied with pre-election politics to tackle this complex issue before Sept. 29, when senators are expected to recess.

“Conventional wisdom is that the issue will simply sit there,” said Christopher Putala, executive vice president with EarthLink, a pro-neutrality Internet company.

[. . . ]

The dispute over Internet pricing, complicated enough in its own right, is joined to a separate issue — injecting more competition into the paid television market by giving phone companies what amounts to a nationwide franchise to deliver shows through their wires.

The bill that is stalled in Congress, therefore, is really designed to promote what proponents call video choice. It would pave the way for phone companies to compete with cable and satellite vendors by using their wire networks to pipe TV into homes.

The net neutrality proposals being pushed by the Internet coalition are contained in amendment to that video choice bill.

[. . . ]

But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., put a hold on that bill — a maneuver that effectively requires 60 votes to lift — and Congress went into its summer recess leaving these twin issues of video choice and net neutrality awaiting a vote before the full Senate.

Now, most political insiders say it doesn’t look like proponents of video choice have the 60 votes they need to lift Wyden’s hold — and a Wyden staffer said he has no intention of lifting it unless he gets tough net neutrality language — making it unlikely that the full Senate will take any action soon.

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–ME “Liz” Strauss

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