New York Politicans, Interest Groups Plan Monday Night Hearing on Net Neutrality, Comcast/TWC

New York politicians and public interest groups planned a hearing Monday night on the FCC net neutrality rulemaking and Comcast's planned purchase of Time Warner Cable. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, a Democrat, New York City Mayoral Counsel Maya Wiley and former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps were to host the hearing because FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has “ignored” requests for a field hearing in the state, they said. “After waiting months for the FCC to get out of the Beltway, advocates are taking initiative,” Copps said in a Free Press news release. “The voices of millions of Americans must not be ignored. A cloistered conversation in Washington, D.C., advances the special interests, not the public interest. It's time for everyone to speak, and be heard.” The FCC didn’t comment. Interest groups Common Cause, Consumers Union and MAG-Net are also involved in the hearing. Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said in a statement that “it’s encouraging that Internet users are raising their voices against these threats to the Open Internet and that public officials are listening.”