Rally at Comcast building opposes cable merger

About 50 activists held a lunchtime rally Monday across the street from Comcast Corp. headquarters in Center City asking the government to tighten regulations on the Internet, and opposing the proposed merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc.

Monday was the last day for the public to respond to new Internet rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission, headed by Tom Wheeler.

More than three million comments have been filed with the FCC as part of the rule-making procedure that could create Internet fast lanes and slow lanes, the regulatory agency said Monday afternoon.

Free Press, an organization that opposes media consolidation, organized the rally in Philadelphia, as well as ones in New York City and Chicago.

Protesters held a large puppet in the likeness of Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts and a globe with phone wires wrapped around it, representing the company's communications network.

"Listen, listen, FCC, the Internet belongs to me," chanted the crowd, led by Hannah Jane Sassaman of the nonprofit Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia.

"Comcast supports an open Internet and network neutrality," company spokesman John Demming said in a statement Monday. "We are the only Internet service provider in America legally bound by full net neutrality rules.

"We support reasonable and workable rules to ensure the Internet remains the amazing success it has been and continues to grow. We don't have fast lanes or any plans to have them, and we don't interfere with our customers' ability to access lawful content online."

Comcast filed its official comments on the proposed new rules with the FCC on Monday, saying it supports an open Internet, or net neutrality. This means the company would not interfere with Internet traffic to subscriber homes. Comcast also said it was firmly opposed to regulating the Internet like a telephone company.

Security was tight around the cable TV giant's headquarters, with about a dozen uniformed police on bicycles and private security guards closing off the area directly in front of the headquarters' front doors. The rally was held on the sidewalk across John F. Kennedy Boulevard.

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