AFP Launches $1.4 Million Advertising Blitz to Expose FCC's Proposed Internet Takeover

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May 11, 2010, 07:30 ET

New TV ads and website aim to highlight adverse effects of government regulation of broadband

WASHINGTON, May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Americans for Prosperity (AFP) announced today a $1.4 million advertising blitz to educate consumers on the harms of looming Internet regulations at the Federal Communications Commission. The effort, hosted on AFP's new website NoInternetTakeover.com, comes in the wake of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposal to circumvent the clear decision of the D.C. Court of Appeals in Comcast v. FCC by pursuing an even more extreme regulatory measure of Title II reclassification.

AFP's television spot -- available on NoInternetTakeover.com -- will initially run in Pennsylvania and Hawaii, as well as on national cable and in the Washington, D.C. market.

"The wave of new regulations proposed by the FCC amounts to nothing less than a Washington takeover of the Internet," says AFP Vice President for Policy Phil Kerpen. "In light of this looming threat, our organization is devoting significant resources -- over $1.4 million -- to ensure Americans are aware of what's at stake in this debate over the future of the Internet.

"Despite evidence to the contrary, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and other advocates of sweeping regulations continue to claim that the Internet is a market failure and, therefore, requires massive government intervention. So-called 'reclassification' of broadband Internet as a 'Title II' telecommunications service -- a telephone system -- would halt innovation, deter new private investment, and limit future options for consumers.

"If recently attempted 'net neutrality' regulations -- struck down unanimously by the D.C. Circuit Court -- were akin to a declaration of war on real Internet freedom, then Chairman Genachowski's new call for reclassification qualifies as nuclear escalation. The FCC wants to reduce the Internet to an old-fashioned government-regulated utility.

"Simply put, the Internet has achieved remarkable success through private competition, with companies providing quality, high-speed broadband access for 95% of U.S. consumers. AFP warns that if Washington regulators succeed, future success of the Internet will be in jeopardy."

Kerpen concludes, "Americans are sick of bailouts and takeovers and they want the dominoes to stop falling. Our nationwide 'No Internet Takeover' campaign, with added focus on special election battlegrounds Hawaii and Pennsylvania, will rally Americans to fight back and stop a Washington takeover of the Internet."

AFP's new website -- www.NoInternetTakeover.com -- provides information and tools for Americans to engage their members of Congress on this critical issue.

Americans for Prosperity™ (AFP) is committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. AFP is an organization of grassroots leaders who engage citizens in the name of limited government and free markets on the local, state and federal levels. AFP has more than 1 million members nationwide and has 30 state chapters and affiliates. The grassroots members of AFP advocate for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint. More than 60,000 Americans in all 50 states have made a financial investment in AFP and AFP Foundation.

www.AmericansforProsperity.org

SOURCE Americans for Prosperity