Consumer Reports Survey: More Than Two-Thirds of Respondents Oppose an ISP Blocking Access to Movie Streaming Service of a Competitor

A new Consumer Reports survey concludes a majority of Americans value the regulatory framework created in 2015 around net neutrality despite recent news that the FCC voted to advance the effort to end the utility-style regulation of internet service providers based on Title II. However, it looks like we have a definitive case of “it depends on how you ask the question” if you compare CR’s results to another one done recently by Morning Consult that was released by the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association.

The study released by NCTA said the majority of Americans surveyed think the government should employ a “light touch” when regulating the internet, and that reliance on a “public utility” model of regulation is not appropriate. In that survey, both Democrats and Republicans respondents reportedly agreed regulating the internet like a public utility negatively impacts ongoing investment and innovation in broadband networks, according to the online survey of 2,194 registered voters that was fielded in April. More information on that survey is here.

In a blog posted this week, Consumer Reports states that in a nationally representative survey, more than two-thirds of respondents said they oppose the idea of an ISP blocking online access to the movie-streaming service of a competitor. Sixty-two percent also reject the idea of an ISP downgrading the transmission quality of products put out by a competitive streaming service, according to a poll sponsored by CR and done in May that included 1,008 U.S. respondents.

CR also points out that about one in 10 people who were asked thought it was OK because “that’s the way business works” and 7 percent thought it was all right provided they were granted a discount on the ISPs streaming service. And 5 percent said it was OK as long as they’re able to pay the ISP an extra fee for access to the blocked service. A higher proportion of Millennials (22 percent) than Baby Boomers (10 percent) and members of Generation X (9 percent) were reportedly fine with an ISP streaming a competitor’s service in poorer quality for business reasons, according to CR.