Legislation to enforce so called 'net neutrality' is unlikely to come into being in the US this year.
The issue of net neutrality – stopping internet service providers from charging content owners a levy so that they can guarantee faster access to rich media content – has been more proactively debated in the US than over here, with some American political types proposing rules to ensure that all content owners, large and small, have equal access to net users. But the ISPs, who, having let themselves get involved in price wars with each other have reduced their profit margins by miles, say that they will need the major media and content firms to contribute to the cost of making web TV and radio style services available.
Net neutrality legislation has been put forward in Washington, but an aide to US Senator Herb Kohl, who heads up the country's Judiciary Subcommittee On Antitrust, Competition Policy And Consumer Rights, has told a conference of cable companies in the US that he hasn't seen any consensus on the issue in political circles, so legislation is unlikely to get through.