John Stankey
Stephen Desaulniers | CNBC
AT&T will no longer exempt viewers of its HBO Max streaming service from data caps after a federal court upheld California’s net neutrality law, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The company informed customers that it would no longer offer “Data Free TV” on its video apps as of March 25, according to a copy of the customer notice obtained by CNBC. That means customers must be connected to Wi-Fi to prevent their streaming from counting towards their total data limit. The change will extend beyond California as, according to AT&T, “the Internet does not recognize state lines.”
The announcement highlights a major concern the industry has with state actions affecting the internet sector. As with digital privacy laws, which currently only exist in a few states, the tech industry fears that a patchwork of state laws will make it more difficult to operate, especially for smaller players.
“A state-by-state approach to ‘net neutrality’ is unworkable,” AT&T said in a statement announcing the data cap change. “A patchwork of government regulations, many of which are overly restrictive, creates roadblocks for creative and pro-consumer solutions.”
Net neutrality is the idea that Internet service providers should act neutrally on the content they host and refrain from speeding up or limiting delivery speed for particular sites or services. Under California law, which a federal judge said last month could be legally enforced, AT&T said it is not allowed to “sponsor” data from customers who also use its wireless services.
California’s net neutrality law came in the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to overturn an Obama-era net neutrality rule at the Federal Communications Commission. The old rule installed the principle of net neutrality by reinterpreting Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, so that internet service providers would be regarded as regular providers subject to more stringent regulation.
AT&T said it has “long been committed to the principles of an open Internet” and urged Congress to pass federal laws to make it easy and affordable for Americans to access the Internet, “while stating clear. , provides consistent and permanent net neutrality rules for everyone to follow. “
-CNBC’s Steve Kopack contributed to this report.
WATCH: Former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on Section 230, 5G and the Biden Administration