Link only good for WSJ subs.
The problem is when cable internet subs see themselves paying $60-100+ for internet they expect great quality of service for the sites they visit. The internet part of their business may not be regulated now, but the cable TV side is. When the natives get restless they could make a lot of trouble for the cableTV side of the business if the internet side is making them mad.
There are potential impacts on Sling.
AT&T is proposing that companies that pay AT&T would not be counted against bandwidth caps. I could see AT&T potentially reducing the caps to a lower level.
That could produce the following scenario:
You pay $40-60 a month for 25GB of internet. If Netflix pays AT&T extra money, then Netflix does not count against the 25GB. Your private Sling device however would count against the 25GB, so you will be limited to about 6 hours of HD Sling watching.
IF the FCC decides to reclassify the internet as a common carrier, in order to regulate it , the internet could very well become like Cable/satellite. This would cost everyone buckets of $$ in order to do what you do now on the internet. They could charge you more if you use Netflix or Hulu etc. They could limit only certain apps and block the rest. The ruling of the federal appeals court today, effectively killed net neutrality and with that, gave all the power to the companies, who own the way you get your internet connection. They get to decide now what happens on their company lines and infrastructure. In effect we the consumers,are all screwed.
The FCC does have the authority to regulate, but they did it wrong technically. If ISPs are classifieds as common carriers, then the FCC does have authority. ISPs are not currently classified as common carriers, so the FCC does not have authority to regulate them as such. The FCC can re-classify them as common carriers, and then would have the authority to make such rules.
The ISPs used to be classified as common carriers, but the petitioned the FCC to reclassify them in the mid 2000s as non-common carriers. The ISP's arguements were that they provided services, not just internet access. They provided: email, web hosting, etc. In my opinion those arguments were not valid. They did provide such services included with internet access, but I did not know one single person who chose their ISP based upon email or web hosting. I know very few people who actually used the ISP email or web hosting. Now, I don't believe many ISPs offer web hosting included in the price of internet access. AT&T has stopped providing email services and sends its users to Yahoo mail.
Nothing is "killed" by this ruling nor is net neutrality doomed. This will be appealed with, perhaps, eventually the Supreme Court choosing to hear the case and make a final ruling, but one could see the Supreme Court ruling that it is up to Congress (via FCC), not for any court to decide.