Well
played Netflix. Very well played.
Netflix is calling up Frank Underwood from "House of Cards" to go to bat for net neutrality.
The controversial Federal Communications Commission regulation isn't a major plot point in the political drama series—at least not yet—but Netflix is using the show's Twitter account to fire back at AT&T's opposition to tough new rules.
The tweet from the show's account is an interesting display of industry bickering, given that Netflix has plenty of other outlets for criticizing AT&T.
But "House of Cards" is popular among Beltway political and policy wonks, and Netflix might have decided that its 490,000 Twitter followers were a prime forum for its tongue-in-cheek jab at AT&T.
Netflix gained the animus of AT&T and all the other big telecoms for its support for strong net neutrality rules during the FCC's deliberations. So AT&T jumped in to attack when Netflix CFO David Wells
expressed some concerns about the FCC's decision to reclassify broadband. The company soon clarified via a spokesperson that "Netflix supports the FCC’s action last week to adopt Title II in ensuring consumers get the internet they paid for without interference by ISPs. […] There has been zero change in our very well-documented position in support of strong net neutrality rules."
In case you're wondering, AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon spent a combined $44.2 million lobbying Congress in the last year, with net neutrality their top issue.
Some members of Congress, on behalf of their cable donors, are trying to stop the FCC from protecting the internet we love. There isn't much time to stop them, so contact them now.