The demise of net neutrality isn't the biggest threat to the cord cutting movement
3The demise of net neutrality isn't the biggest threat to the cord-cutting movement.
With the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) poised to dismantle net neutrality rules next month, it’s easy to get caught up in predictions of an internet doomsday.
You might have seen, for instance, the mockup of an internet service plan that charges extra for access to popular web services, or the claims that an internet company could block unfavorable political opinions from appearing online. Without strong net neutrality rules, the fear is that cable, telecom, and other internet service providers will become powerful gatekeepers, deciding what you see and how much you’ll pay to see it. This of course would have dire implications for anyone looking to cancel cable TV in favor of cheaper streaming video services.
Comcast and other providers have denied that they’ll ruin the internet in such dramatic fashion, but the reality is that they don’t have to. Under the current FCC, these companies have already been granted a more insidious form of gatekeeper power, one that gives their own video services an unfair advantage.
To understand the real risk cord cutters face under net neutrality, it helps to look at a few interconnected events that have occurred since last year.