HBO, Showtime, and Sony reportedly want special treatment from Internet service providers to avoid congestion and data caps for their online streaming services.

The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, reported today that the companies want their online TV offerings to be treated as "managed" services.

"[I]instead of putting their Web traffic on the public Internet’s main thoroughfare, they want to be in a separate lane that would ensure their content gets special treatment," the Journal wrote. "In effect, that would move them away from the congestion of the Internet, which they fear will only get worse as more people opt to stream movies and TV shows on the Web. The other benefit: a separate lane would be exempt from monthly data-usage thresholds operators enforce for public Internet traffic, saving customers from the surcharges that can kick in if they binge on too many episodes of 'Game of Thrones' or 'Homeland.'"

The Journal suggested that broadband providers could package online TV services with broadband plans and receive a cut of the online video providers' subscription revenue.

There are at least two problems: Internet service providers may not want to give this kind of special treatment to online streaming services that could compete against their cable TV offerings. (Comcast has been slow to authenticate HBO Go on certain streaming devices.) Secondly, such special treatment could be prevented by the Federal Communications Commission under its new net neutrality rules, which prevent prioritization in exchange for payment.

The FCC did not issue a specific rule banning data caps or exemptions to data caps, but claims the authority to intervene if data caps are used in a way that harms competitors. Internet service providers who hand out exemptions to some services but not others could be accused of favoring partners in exchange for payment instead of acting as a neutral conduit.

The "separate lane" the providers reportedly want would face a different question under net neutrality. Internet service providers aren't supposed to favor specific online services in exchange for payment but there is an exception for so-called "Non-Broadband Internet Access Service Data Services," also known as "specialized" or managed services.

These include services that do not travel over the public Internet, like the Internet providers' own voice and IP video offerings, or heart monitoring services and energy consumption sensors. The FCC doesn't specifically endorse or reject what HBO, Showtime, and Sony apparently want, but the commission could be skeptical of the proposed "separate lane."

"The Commission expressly reserves the authority to take action if a service is, in fact, providing the functional equivalent of broadband Internet access service or is being used to evade the open Internet rules," the FCC's order says. "The Commission will vigilantly watch for such abuse, and its actions will be aided by the existing transparency requirement that non-broadband Internet access service data services be disclosed."

Specialized services that harm over-the-top (i.e. over-the-Internet) services could receive special scrutiny. "[I]f the Commission determines that these types of service offerings are undermining investment, innovation, competition, and end-user benefits, we will similarly take appropriate action," the FCC wrote. "We are especially concerned that over-the-top services offered over the Internet are not impeded in their ability to compete with other data services."

The FCC rejected calls to write a more detailed definition of specialized services.

The question could end up being moot in this case. "So far, most broadband providers have pushed back on the idea of treating online TV products from other companies as managed services, people familiar with the discussions say," the Journal reported. "Comcast indicated in conversations with Sony and HBO that it wasn’t willing to do anything for any one content provider that it couldn’t offer to every other company, so it doesn’t run afoul of net-neutrality rules, the people said."

Cable executives also complained the proposed arrangements could require "special infrastructure that would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars for a single online video company," the Journal reported.

These separate lanes discussed by HBO and Showtime would be different from the interconnection agreements Netflix has to send its traffic directly into Internet providers' networks. Netflix traffic still travels over the same paths as other Internet traffic once it enters the providers' networks.

UPDATE: Industry analyst Dan Rayburn cast doubt on the "separate lane" request reported by the Journal, saying the content providers may instead be asking for caching inside the providers' networks. Rayburn also noted that the Journal did not provide a definition of the "separate lane," and wrote that ISPs could exempt content from data caps without setting up managed services.