During a hearing today addressing whether cable companies are improperly slowing down certain types of web traffic (P2P, video, etc.), FCC Chairman Kevin Martin suggested that the agency may have to take remedial actions to ensure that operators are behaving in a fair and transparent manner. The hearings, held at Harvard, were prompted by complaints earlier this month from certain online video distributors, including Vuze (disclosure: we share investors with Vuze), that cable giant Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) was engaging in traffic throttling because such video services compete with the operator’s own video offerings. Comcast, of course, denies its actions are anything more than reasonable network management. It’s not clear what, if any, actions the FCC is going to take on the matter, although the agency would at least like to bring about some transparency standards—making cable operators clearly spell out to customers what limitations they impose. Martin recently expressed his view on transparency during the NBA Tech Summit.

Not surprisingly, Martin’s viewpoint is shared by the commission’s Democratic members, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein (pdfs of their statements on the matter can be found here and here). One thing to watch for, as the FCC moves forward on its plans, is the extent to which its actions are viewed as going after cable companies specifically. The specific complaints here were directed at Comcast, but it’s not the only company for whom net neutrality is an issue. Martin has developed a reputation for attacking cable, though he insists that his issues with the cable industry are just an “analogy” for the bigger problem. What’s not clear is the extent to which the FCC can impose actual net neutrality regulations sans-legislative backing. Democratic Rep. Edward Markey has introduced anti-discrimination legislation, but the view is that it faces an uphill battle.

WSJ: “The hearing room at Harvard Law School was packed full, with dozens of people turned away at the door and protesters with placards in the hallways. ‘These are very significant issues and we don’t take those allegations lightly,’ said Mr. Martin in his opening remarks. ‘The commission is ready, willing and able to step in and correct any (unlawful) practices that are ongoing today.’”

NYT: “’The time has come for a specific enforceable principle of nondiscrimination at the F.C.C.,’ Mr. Copps said. ‘Our job is to figure out where you draw the line between unreasonable discrimination and reasonable network management.’...At the hearing, Gilles BianRosa, CEO of Vuze, attacked Comcast’s decision to slow down Internet traffic. The company is a leading provider of high quality video to computer users, and has had more than 20 million downloads of its application. He said the problem is that ‘the network operator is our competitor.’”

News.com: “He (Martin) then turned to Comcast executive vice president David Cohen and asked why his company ‘thinks it’s necessary to block’ peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic when its customers “are acting within the constraints you sold them.... Doesn’t that undermine the arguments you’re making?’ Martin asked. “It doesn’t undermine the argument,” Cohen replied. ‘I don’t think we’re restraining the customers from using the service in accordance with the way we’re selling it to them.’”

Ted Hearn: “Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin dragged his agency all the way to Harvard Law School on Monday to make the same point he’s made in just about every U.S. time zone: He dislikes and distrusts Comcast Corp. The Harvard session was billed as a discussion related to broadband network management practices. Instead, Martin decided to turn it into a federally sanctioned sandbagging of the country’s largest cable company.”

• @ NBA Tech Summit: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin: ‘I’m Not Picking On Cable’
• Comcast Defends Slowing Down P2P Traffic; Regulators Introduce Neutrality Bill