Saying he's "horrified but powerless" Brand X President Jim Pickrell comments on U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring cable networks "information services" and not "telecommunications services"

California Politics Today #373/ Etopia Media Entertainment News Network #18

Santa Monica, California
June 27, 2005

by Marc Strassman
Reporter
Etopia Media Entertainment News Network
Etopia Media News Networks

Jim Pickrell, president of Brand X, a small, Santa Monica, California-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), has appeared twice before on Etopia Media News Network websites, first on April 4, 2005, and then on April 14, 2005, to talk about his company's case, at those times pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, in which it argued that it should be allowed to offer Internet access over the Adelphia cable network on the same basis as could the cable company itself.

The U.S. Supreme Court today sided with the cable company and the Federal Communications Commission, which has ruled that cable companies are "information services," and not "telecommunications services" under the terms of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This status frees them from any duty to offer access through their lines to any Internet service provider other than themselves.

Telephone companies have been considered "telecommunications services" under the 1996 law, but as a result of this decision may soon achieve "information service" status comparable to that of the cable companies, paving the way for a strict duopoly of control by telcos and cable companies of all possible wired Internet access provisioning for businesses and residences.

You can listen to an audio interview recorded today with Mr. Pickrell about his reaction to this decision by the U.S. Supreme Court by clicking here.

One possible alternative to the cable-telco duopoly for Internet access is that of "municipal broadband," under which cities or states might build out wireless (802.11b/WiMAX) Internet platforms and allow private ISPs to offer Internet access over these networks.