The US FCC said it plans to look at the agreements between Netflix and ISPs such as Verizon and Comcast on exchanging traffic. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the regulator was concerned that consumers were not receiving the quality of services for which they pay. He ordered the Commission staff to obtain the information needed "to understand precisely what is happening in order to understand whether consumers are being harmed". Staff already started requesting information from ISPs and content providers, and the FCC has received copies of the agreements between Comcast and Netflix and Verizon and Netflix.
Wheeler stressed that the regulator is only collecting information at this point, and not regulating the market. Separately, its public consultation on proposed new Open Internet rules remains open for comment. "The bottom line is that consumers need to understand what is occurring when the internet service they’ve paid for does not adequately deliver the content they desire, especially content they’ve also paid for," the chairman said.
