NY AG Subpoenas Comcast on Broadband

The New York attorney general's office has requested information from Comcast Corp. on the company's handling of Internet traffic.

Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, is the subject of several complaints to the Federal Communications Commission and has been sued by customers over its throttling of file-sharing traffic on its cable-modem service.

"We have requested information from the company via subpoena," Jeffrey Lerner, a spokesman for Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, said Tuesday.

Comcast said it was cooperating with the AG's office.

The Philadelphia-based company has repeatedly said that its traffic management practices are necessary to keep other Internet traffic, like Web content, flowing smoothly.

On Monday, the FCC held a public hearing on the issue in Cambridge, Mass. Commissioners signaled that they were looking for greater openness from Internet providers about their traffic management practices, and were ready to step in to enforce the agency's "open Internet" policies.

Comcast has a minimal presence in New York state, mostly along the Connecticut border. It serves less than half of one percent of the broadband subscribers in New York, spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said.

Dow Jones Newswires reported on New York AG's investigation on Monday.