Summary Box: FCC seeks compromise on how it regulates broadband; step is key to its agenda

Summary Box: FCC seeks broadband compromise

AT STAKE: A federal appeals court last month questioned the Federal Communications Commission’s legal authority to regulate broadband. That threatened the FCC’s ability to carry out its plans to expand high-speed Internet access in the U.S.

A COMPROMISE: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says the FCC can redefine how it regulates broadband in order to ensure it has the legal authority it needs, but without imposing “heavy-handed” regulations on Internet providers.

NEW FIGHT: The new proposal still likely faces oppositions from Internet providers and Republicans on the FCC. They question the need for even the regulations that the FCC chairman is calling limited in scope.