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Cable Companies Vow to Fight Net Neutrality for Five More Years

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​Think this whole net neutrality thing is almost over? It's not. The president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said Tuesday that the industry is prepared and ready to sue the hell out of the Federal Communications Commission in a process that could last up to five more years.

Public sentiment, federal and local governments, and small internet service providers have already begun responding to market forces pushing them to provide faster, indiscriminate service. But the giant telecoms, unsurprisingly, are vowing to litigate the FCC's new rules, which will take a very long time.

"There'll likely be an appeal, and litigation with FCC appeals is a pretty long, drawn-out process," Michael Powell, head of the NCTA, told CNBC. "I would predict it's at least two and up to five years before the rules are fully and finally settled."

The NCTA represents Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, and other major telecom companies. Powell pointed out that we have been talking about net neutrality for quite some time now—it hasn't just been the last year or so since Verizon won a landmark court case that put the FCC's existing rules against "fast lanes" and other paid prioritization for certain types of traffic at risk. Before that, there was another debate.

"The current set of net neutrality rules is from 2010. It's 2015, and we still don't have a new set, and this debate has gone on for a decade," he said.

That this is a long, drawn-out process isn't surprising, of course—there are potentially billions of dollars on the line, so don't expect big telecom companies to bow out anytime soon.