Brand X: The Wait

Jeff Pulver notes that, amid all the hoopla surrounding the Supremes hearing the Grokster case on Tuesday, the coverage of the Brand X case was rather muted. I'm with him when he says the "less visible Brand X ruling might prove to have more sweeping effects on the future of one's Internet experience."

Of course, no one has any idea of what the ruling, which will probably come in June, will be. And the media coverage of the issue doesn't help much (though there were several set-up pieces, including one from James Granelli in the Los Angeles Times, which we talked about last week, and another from the Baltimore Sun's William Patalon III, that were well done) . The issues are described as complex, the justices are described as scratching their heads over aspects of the case, and there's very little critical analysis of how the arguments went (one exception is the Progress and Freedom Foundation, which is fighting for deregulation of broadband: The group expressed some concern that the government didn't strongly assert the FCC's primacy -- as opposed to the courts' -- in setting the rules for the broadband playing field).

I'm inclined to agree with Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America: Let's hope the court comes down on the side to open access to the cable broadband pipe. Otherwise, the market will be reduced to "a crummy duopoly" (cable firms on one hand, telcos on the other).