The FCC has agreed to examine inter-connection deals between Internet service providers and streaming services, which have been in the news lately thanks to public bickering between Netflix and ISPs like Comcast and Verizon.
In a Friday statement, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that he too has been exasperated by buffering and service slow-downs when trying to watch streaming video like that provided by Netflix. Trouble is, no one is really sure if Netflix or the ISP is the one to blame.
"We don't know the answers and we are not suggesting that any company is at fault," Wheeler said. But the main question to consider is "what is going on and what can the FCC do on behalf of consumers?"
As a result, FCC staff is now "requesting information from ISPs and content providers. We have received the agreements between Comcast and Netflix and Verizon and Netflix. We are currently in the process of asking for others."
"To be clear, what we are doing right now is collecting information, not regulating," Wheeler continued. "We are looking under the hood. Consumers want transparency. They want answers. And so do I."
In recent months, Netflix has inked inter-connection (or peering) deals with Comcast and Verizon, whereby Netflix pays for a direct connection to the ISPs' networks in order to guarantee faster speeds for Netflix customers using those ISPs. Netflix has signed these deals reluctantly, with CEO Reed Hastings pushing for stronger net neutrality rules that would ban such deals.
Inter-connection deals are not currently part of the FCC's ongoing net neutrality proceeding. With that, the commission is focusing on how ISPs deal with traffic inside their own networks. Opening it up to outside deals would complicate and prolong the process.
But while it won't be part of the net neutrality rules, "consumers must get what they pay for," Wheeler said. "As the consumer's representative we need to know what is going on."
"We welcome the FCC's efforts to bring more transparency," Netflix said in a statement. "Americans deserve to get the speed and quality of Internet access they pay for."
Sena Fitzmaurice, Vice President of Government Communications for Comcast, said the company welcomes the FCC's inquiry, "which will allow the Commission full transparency into the entire Internet backbone ecosystem and enable full education as to how this market works."
"We have long published our peering policies for example, and are open to discussions about further disclosures that would benefit consumers," she said. "We also have voluntarily shared a vast array of information about our peering and interconnection practices with the FCC. We also agree with the Chairman that the broadband consumer should be the focus of this inquiry and not any particular business model."
On it public policy Twitter account, meanwhile, Verizon said that "Internet traffic exchange has always been handled through commercial agreements. This has worked well for the Internet ecosystem and consumers. We are hopeful that policy makers will recognize this fact and that the Internet will continue to be the engine of growth of the global economy."
The latest drama on this issue happened last week, when it was revealed that Netflix was serving up alerts to users that blamed their ISP - namely Verizon - for slow service. Verizon issued a cease-and-desist letter and threatened to sue, arguing that the alerts were incorrect and could possibly hurt its brand. Netflix said the alerts are scheduled to stop on June 16.
One ISP that sides with Netflix is Google Fiber, which said in a May blog post that ISPs should not charge for peering arrangements because these deals benefit everyone.