Net Neutrality (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver)

[citation needed] After a surge of comments supporting net neutrality that were inspired by Oliver's episode, the FCC voted to reclassify broadband as a utility in 2015.

"[1] The late New York Times columnist David Carr commented that prior to the net neutrality segment, he thought Oliver's comedic style would "never work.

[4] The order was meant as a further step toward ensuring net neutrality in the sense that ISPs could not block or discriminate against lawfully operated websites, apps, or web services.

[6] However, the FCC was given permission to regulate broadband and craft more specific rules that stop short of identifying service providers as common carriers.

[8] In April 2014, the FCC proposed a set of new regulations that, among other things, would allow for ISPs to levy charges on websites in exchange for faster connection speeds.

The director of the Common Cause organization's Media and Democracy Reform Initiative compared the FCC proposal to "toll roads" that "represent Washington at its worst.

the electronic cat database," and noting how easy it is to buy merchandise such as coyote urine on the internet compared to if these items were bought in person.

[19] The comedian refutes telecommunications companies' claims that they would not slow down other web traffic to get more internet users to subscribe to their services instead.

"[19] The comedian then says that the fight to keep net neutrality is so important that pro-net-neutrality activists are on the same side as corporations like Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Facebook, an alliance which Oliver describes as very unlikely.

Oliver then says that the only entities that would benefit from the rule change were the cable companies who are lobbying Congress, including Comcast, who is the second-largest congressional lobbyist.

He also states that Obama's nomination of Tom Wheeler, a former cable and wireless lobbyist, for the FCC Chairman position was "the equivalent of needing a babysitter and hiring a dingo".

[23] The segment then displays a clip of Roberts saying that if Comcast were to merge with another major ISP like Time Warner, there would be no reduction in competition.

[31] Bloomberg News wrote that even though the segment was only a small part of the net-neutrality debate, as compared to the electronic mailing lists convincing tens of millions of people to vote against the proposed rules, it "gave a bump to a political movement" and ultimately helped to reverse the FCC's position in regards to net neutrality.

[25][1] Terrance F. Ross of The Atlantic wrote, "John Oliver’s segment on net neutrality this past June perfectly summed up what his HBO show Last Week Tonight is so good at: transcending apathy.

Jon Healey of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Oliver misled his audience badly on a couple of key points", saying that the federal courts would not allow the FCC to unfairly discriminate between different forms of web traffic; that large ISPs would not need the new rules to implement a speed-tiered system; and that Wheeler had left open the possibility of outlawing the ISPs' promotion of certain websites for a fee.

"[1][36] However, he also stated that the segment did not talk about the FCC's plan to reinstate the open-internet protections that had been halted in an appeals court earlier that year.

[38] The "Net Neutrality" segment increased Last Week Tonight's viewership to approximately 4 million per episode by the end of the first season,[2] and contributed to its popularity in U.S. late-night television.

[1] In November 2014, after the season had ended, David Carr of The New York Times wrote that the show had become "a smash" since the segment first aired.

Two interns analyzing the data for the Pew Research Center wrote that the sudden rise in the number of comments on the FCC net-neutrality page could not be attributed to cable or printed news media, since these outlets' coverage of net neutrality was more infrequent than in previous weeks.

[40] The Verge later requested that the FCC publish emails related to the Last Week Tonight episode under the Freedom of Information Act.

"[48] On March 12, 2015, the FCC released the specific details of its new net neutrality rules,[49][50] which included prohibiting content blocking, slower connections to websites, and "fast and slow lanes".

Pai announced proposals to scrap Title II shortly after his appointment[55] on the grounds that higher regulation of the internet led to decreased business.

[58][59] The vote caused John Oliver to release a second segment on the subject three years later, entitled "Net Neutrality II".