Portland Case Has Impact: ISPs Press On, Cities Deal.(agreements between local governments and cable Internet service providers)

Multichannel News, July, 2000 by Estrelia, Joe

WASHINGTON -- Deciding to wait for the waves to crash its shores, the Federal Communications Commission is unlikely to plunge into the choppy surf that kicked up from the court decision two weeks ago that denied local governments the power to regulate cable Internet access. FCC chairman William Kennard told reporters last Friday that he has asked staff members to develop a framework for the agency's investigations, but did not give a timetable for the process.

"There should be an open platform," Kennard said. "The only question is: How do we get there? Do we get there though government intervention, or do we get there though market forces?" Kennard appears to be holding to his earlier view that government regulation forcing an open-access...