(credit: Aurich Lawson)

AT&T purchased DirecTV in July 2015 and in September of this year started exempting DirecTV’s online streaming from the data caps. When other companies want to bypass data caps imposed on AT&T customers, they have to pay AT&T directly for an exemption.

The FCC has mostly allowed such zero-rating schemes to proceed, but this month the commission’s wireless telecommunications bureau told AT&T that it may be violating net neutrality rules and asked the carrier to respond to the concerns. AT&T argued yesterday in a letter to the FCC and an attached legal analysis that the data cap exemption benefits consumers and is not a violation.