FHH’s Paul Feldman will soon be on the road again, speaking on Network Neutrality at OTTcon East in Atlanta on June 17.  OTTcon East is a conference focusing on “over-the-top” (OTT) services which rely on the Internet to deliver video content to the home.  (Think Internet-accessing game consoles, DVRs, disk players and the like, all of which permit content providers and consumers to by-pass traditional video service providers like cable.) 

Paul’s address (title: “Network Neutrality – Friend or Foe?”) will focus on – what else? – Net Neutrality.  In addition to providing an overview of the Commission’s 2005 Internet Policy Statement and its 2008 Comcast/BitTorrent Order, he’ll also address the FCC’s latest Net Neutrality proposals and related questions, including:

  • Would Net Neutrality rules help or hurt OTT video providers?
  • What impact, if any, will the proposed Comcast/NBCU merger have on Net Neutrality?
  • What impact, if any, will the FCC’s proposal to require Internet gateway set top boxes have on Net Neutrality?

The OTTcon event is dedicated to providing in-depth perspectives and critical analysis needed to address the challenges which OTT video pose for a range of traditional business models, such as those of pay TV operators, content owners, consumer equipment manufacturers, and over-the-air broadcasters.  For instance, among the featured speakers on June 16 will be:

  • Rick Ducey, Chief Strategy Officer of BIA/Kelsey, providing his take on the role of local broadcast TV in the development of OTT (sample grab: “adding free to air, local digital station into [the OTT] mix is becoming more attractive.”); and
  • Richard Yelen, Managing Director of Neulion, looking at the changing landscape of TV consumption and the pressure that is putting on cable, satellite and over-the-air providers to work OTT and IPTV into their distribution strategy.
  • Kevin Walsh, VP of Marketing for Zeugma Systems, getting technical about the “curse” of buffering of OTT video streams, which causes playback freeze-up.

More information about OTTcon East, including online registration, is available here.