Last summer Senator Ted "Tubes" Stevens bragged he was close to having the 60 votes necessary to pass his Communications Act of 2006. The Act contained numerous provisions, but its primary goal was to give incumbent telcos a national video franchise, something they claim will speed up IPTV (or, in Verizon's case, coax/fiber) deployment. Critics argue that a national franchise eliminates local negotiating authority, which has traditionally helped communities demand increased deployment (as well as more ridiculous requests).

Despite the fact the Senate Commerce Committee was spending tax dollars to circulate pro-incumbent editorials as educational material, Stevens had a hard time getting his Act approved due to network neutrality concerns. Opponents wanted guarantees that telcos wouldn't discriminate against competing content traffic if given a national video franchise.

"There is no way you can appease the people that say there is a net neutrality problem," Stevens complained a few months back. "It’s a fetish. It’s really something that doesn’t exist," opined Stevens. Stevens hoped to pass his bill during the Senate's "lame duck" session, but with the close of the 109th Congress, that possibility is dead -- for now.

Groups like "Save the Internet" and MoveOn are lauding the Act's death as a "Huge Victory for Real People." "Industry will be back with their money and phony grassroots groups," says Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst at Consumers Union. "But next time around, with a public now well-informed of what’s at stake, we hope Congress will take up broadband policy that advances consumer — not just industry — needs."