Federal Appeals Court Suspends Lower Court Ruling in Cable-ISP Lines Case

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 12, 2004 - 6:34am.

San Francisco, Calif. -- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco on Friday temporarily suspended its earlier ruling that would have forced cable companies to offer service from competing Internet service providers on their lines. The court's decision to issue a stay, until the U.S. Supreme Court has a chance to consider the case, was applauded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and cable industry, who appealed the October 2002 ruling by the court that the FCC incorrectly ruled in March 2002 that cable broadband networks are an "information service" rather than a "telecommunications service", a distinction that is important because telecommunications services, such as SBC Communications and Verizon Communications, are required to open their broadband lines to third-party ISPs, such as Earthlink and America Online, while information services are not. Dan Brenner, Senior Vice President of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), which represents major cable operators like Time Warner and Comcast, said in a statement, "We will now turn our attention to developing our formal appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and look forward to having this case decided on its merits." http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5189485.html?tag=nefd.hed
http://www.fcc.gov/