By blocking HBO Go on PlayStation 4 and PS3, Comcast could be violating one of the FCC's newly passed net neutrality rules.

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On Thursday the FCC published the official text of the Open Internet Order , which, until then, was unseen by the public. The first focus of the order, as previously explained by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler , is to eliminate three practices deemed exceedingly harmful to a free internet: blocking, throttling and paid prioritzation.That is, customers must get any service they paid for, in its fullest form, and must not be charged in a way that favors particular content. "A person engaged in the provision of broadband Internet access service... shall not block lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, subject to reasonable network management," the order states As a lawful application, HBO Go should be available on customers' devices. But Comcast customers have frequently complained on Comcast forums that HBO Go won't work on Sony consoles –– the issue began with the app's PS3 launch in March of last year, and persisted on PS4 earlier this month.The FCC "reasonable network management" exception mentioned in the above rule states that a provider may block or throttle a service or app, so long as it has a technical justification for doing so, and doesn't relate to business decisions. So, if Comcast has a "network management" reason for blocking the app, then it may be considered an exception to the rules.But in a Feb. 18 forum response , a Comcast employee said "HBO Go availability on PS3 (and some other devices) are business decisions and deal with business terms that have not yet been agreed to between the parties." If the decision is indeed based on business matters, and not technical issues, as Comcast says, then the provider might not have regulatory power over HBO Go on Sony consoles.To be clear, there could be any number of specific deals or obligations between Sony, Comcast or HBO to consider. Matt Wood, legal expert and policy director for Free Press, a group that pushed strongly for the recent net neutrality rules, said there may be contractual agreements (or disagreements) between HBO and Comcast that could prevent the app from working under the provider. But he also said it's an anti-consumer practice."We think it's a problem with Comcast being so big," Wood told IGN. "Just because they say 'No, no, we have a really good reason,' I don't trust it at face value. I don't know what to pin it on. It might be some licensing issue, and not Comcast just up-and-deciding to block it so people watch it on some other device. But bottom line, it's limiting viewers' choices."While Comcast said business negotations are ongoing in the aforementioned forum post, Sony declined to comment on whether any such deals are taking place.IGN also asked an HBO representative why Comcast might be blocking the app, to which HBO responded: "Only they can speak to it."Considering the HBO Go app works for Xbox owners who have Comcast, IGN asked for Microsoft's perspective on any possible contractual obligations. Microsoft declined to comment.Last week, IGN emailed Comcast for comment on why the company blocks the HBO Go app on Sony platforms. While they declined to comment about that issue directly, a Comcast spokesperson told IGN "there is no shortage in the number of ways for our customers to access their content across the devices and platforms of their choice." Comcast also pointed out that it began authenticating HBO and Showtime on Roku last December –– but that was only after Roku filed an official complaint to the FCC After the Open Internet rules were published Thursday, IGN sent Comcast a follow-up email to see if the company had anything to add. The provider declined to comment further, but pointed toward its recent blog post "The issue relating to authenticating HBO Go on Playstation 4 is nothing more than a purely commercial issue – it is not an Open Internet issue," Comcast said. "Comcast’s authentication of HBO Go isn’t remotely related to the Open Internet requirements, which address how Comcast provides broadband Internet access service to its retail customers, not whether Comcast shares its cable customers’ credentials with third parties. Even more important, the issue has no connection to this transaction at all."

Mike Mahardy is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @mmahardy