Barack Obama sides with consumers over equal broadband download speeds

US President Barack Obama has embraced a radical change in how the government treats internet service, coming down on the side of consumer activists who fear slower download speeds and higher costs but angering US cable giants who say the plan would kill jobs.

Obama on Monday called on the Federal Communications Commission to more heavily regulate internet providers and treat broadband much as it would any other public utility. He said the FCC should explicitly prohibit internet providers like Verizon and AT&T from charging data hogs like Netflix extra to move their content more quickly. The announcement sent cable stocks tumbling.

The FCC, an independent regulatory body led by political appointees, is nearing a decision on whether broadband providers should be allowed to cut deals with content providers but is stumbling over the legal complexities.

"We are stunned the president would abandon the long-standing, bipartisan policy of lightly regulating the internet and calling for extreme" regulation, said Michael Powell, president and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, the primary lobbying arm of the cable industry, which supplies much of the nation's internet access.

This "tectonic shift in national policy, should it be adopted, would create devastating results", added Powell, who chaired the FCC during the Bush administration until 2005.

Netflix swung behind Obama, posting to its Facebook page that "consumers should pick winners and losers on the internet, not broadband gatekeepers".