FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will discuss a new net neutrality plan Wednesday in hopes of passing it at the commission's meeting on the issue this month.
The proposal before the commission at its Dec. 21 meeting, broadly described in a release Wednesday morning, would protect consumers' "right to a level playing field, while providing broadband Internet access providers with the flexibility to reasonably manage their networks."
Passage of the rules would allow the FCC to address the issue before Congress goes back into session next year. House Republicans have vowed to oppose any requirements forcing Internet providers to treat all web traffic equally.
Genachowski has also put the blame for stalling net neutrality rules at the feet of Verizon and Google, which have reached a separate agreement on rules governing web traffic.
The net neutrality debate could delay the FCC's review of Comcast Corp.'s plan to take over NBC Universal, because the other four commissioners besides Genachowski may have trouble dealing with both issues at once, The Wall Street Journal reported.
On Tuesday, U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter urging the Federal Communications Commission to establish a plan by the end of the year for mandating net neutrality.
