The Federal Communications Commission will reportedly set up a complaint process to review the controversial paid peering deals in which online content providers such as Netflix pay for access to broadband providers' networks.

Netflix objected to having to pay the likes of Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon for interconnection, which lets Netflix send traffic directly into the providers' networks without paying a middleman. The FCC's net neutrality rules, scheduled to be revealed next week and voted on February 26, won't ban the deals but will set up a formal process in which Netflix and others could complain that the prices aren't reasonable, according to a Bloomberg report yesterday.

"FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has decided the rules, scheduled for a vote next month, will permit the agreements but include a procedure for companies to ask for agency review," Bloomberg wrote, quoting "a person briefed on the plan."

"Adding the complaint process would give independent video providers—a group that includes Netflix, Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc.’s YouTube—a potential avenue of relief from demands by Internet service providers led by Comcast, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.," Bloomberg added.

When contacted by Ars, an FCC spokesperson declined to comment because the proposal has not yet been released.

The FCC last year started examining the agreements between online content providers and ISPs after the Netflix deals were struck, but it took no action. Netflix performance on major ISPs had gone into freefall for months when the companies were fighting over money. Getting the FCC involved in disputes earlier could minimize the amount of time consumers face poor Internet performance.

The net neutrality rules are expected to include a ban on "paid prioritization," which would let ISPs charge Web companies for a faster path to consumers over the network's "last mile," the path between the edge of the network and consumers' homes. By contrast, paid peering deals concern how traffic enters the broadband providers' networks—peering ensures a smooth entry into the network but doesn't speed up traffic in relation to other services thereafter.

To enforce these rules, the FCC is expected to reclassify broadband providers as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act, the same statute used to govern the traditional telephone network. Title II has provisions allowing for complaint processes, because common carriers must offer service to the public without discrimination and on reasonable terms.