Comcast VP: I Don't Agree With Obama's Net Neutrality Announcement
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen spoke out about President Barack Obama's speech on net neutrality.
Cohen did not find his clamoring for full Title II regulation of the internet "necessary or appropriate."
Cohen, a self-proclaimed supporter of the President on most issues, told WPHT morning host Chris Stigall that he was "very surprised" and does not agree with Obama's announcement of a push for stricter net neutrality rules. He suggested that the FCC might not even have the authority to do what Obama wants them to do and instead, offered up a solution for it.
"This whole issue would be better handled by Congress, which could take the authority issue off the table. This is not Constitution; this is legislative. And if Congress could get its act together and figure out a way to agree on a rational, regulatory structure around the internet, all these issues would be taken off the table," he said.
All regulations are not off the table for Cohen. In fact, it's something that it is something that Comcast had been operating under for the past four years, when the FCC imposed rules that forced disclosure, anti-blocking and anti-discrimination requirements on broadband providers.
"They have never once gotten in the way in which we have wanted to operate our business. We have never come close to the line of violating those rules. No consumer has been hurt as a result of it. We've had no disincentive to invest… I think that they're probably not necessary, but do they harm the business? No. If they give comfort to the consumers and other internet companies and encourage them to continue to invest; I mean, that's something that I can live with. We as a company have evolved to the point where we're perfectly prepared to accept reasonable, open internet rules that preserve our rights to manage our network."
Supporters of net neutrality are worried about their content being negatively affected by the slow and paid fast lanes that the FCC has proposed.
"If it makes [consumers] feel better that we would be prohibited from blocking or degrading any lawful content that was being streamed over the internet, we could live with that," he said.
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