Consumer electronics maker Roku, Inc. has hired international law firm Hogan Lovells to advocate the video and hardware company’s position on net neutrality issues in Washington.

Roku produces a popular series of video streaming boxes that connect to users’ Wi-Fi network, allowing consumers to play web content on their TVs.

Under the Trump administration, the Federal Communications Commission has debated turning back its landmark 2015 passage of net neutrality rules, which reclassified broadband Internet service providers as a “common carrier” telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act.

Roku

Passed by a 3-2 vote under the watch of former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, that measure prohibited Internet providers from discriminating against the different types of web traffic that flow through their networks, an environment that otherwise could have included the practice of slowing down or outright blocking Internet access for some web and media companies while providing a virtual “fast lane” for their own content.

Wheeler, a Democrat, stepped down from his post with the incoming administration, a tradition for the nation’s top telecommunications regulator. He was succeeded by Trump appointee Ajit Varadaraj Pai, a Republican who had previously served as FCC commissioner.

Given the administrative turnover, many are now predicting that a rollback of Wheeler’s policies is imminent. President Trump has publicly stated his desire to reverse the current regulatory framework; White House spokesman Sean Spicer during a late March press conference, said Trump disagreed with the “overreach” of the net neutrality rules, which, according to Spicer, were an example of “bureaucrats in Washington” that stifle "American innovation, job creation and economic growth.”

Reuters yesterday reported that Pai wants to reverse the Obama-era rules and has also met with telecommunications trade groups to discuss his preliminary plans to do so.

If current net neutrality rules are turned back, it could mean potential trouble for streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon and others, which rely on an open, non-discriminatory Internet highway through which they share their content.

Roku finds itself firmly planted in this camp. Vox Media digital property ReCode reported yesterday that the Los Gatos, CA-based company has been considering launching its own pay TV service, which would only increase what the company stands to lose in an environment where content providers potentially see their streaming services slowed down while competing services affiliated or owned by ISPs are given preference.

On the other side of the coin, cable and telecommunications giant Comcast in December retained lobbying firm Farragut Partners, also for advocacy help with Net Neutrality legislation. The world’s largest cable company, Comcast potentially stands to benefit from a regulatory environment that no longer requires Internet providers to treat all web traffic the same.

ReCode reported that Roku’s retainer of Hogan Lovells signals the first time the company has hired a lobbying firm.