NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The Federal Communications Commission has formally proposed ending the concept of net neutrality, or net equality where all websites get the same bandwidth.

New rules that will be voted on next month would give faster speeds to media companies that pay internet service providers more.

As WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reported, you might not fully understand net neutrality, but you will likely feel the repercussions.

“This is a very big deal, because it in effect signals the end of the open internet as we know it,” said Andrew Rasiej, head of the New York Tech Alliance. “Considerably Netflix would charge more for its subscriptions in order to make sure that its movies can get priority when being distributed online.”

“So if companies are paying the internet service providers higher fees for priority access to speed, eventually it will trickle down to the local consumer,” he added.

Chairman Ajit Pai says this will stop the government from micromanaging the internet.

Rasiej thinks it eliminates a level playing field.

“The government is basically codifying the control of the internet by large corporations,” he said.

He said providers will now control the internet highways and can slow down or speed up traffic.