• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, March 10, 2017

Broadening its much debated zero-rating program, Verizon is now offering its own version of "data free TV."

Verizon said this week that mobile subscribers who also subscribe to Fios Internet and TV will be able to stream TV shows through the Fios Mobile App without burning through their monthly data caps. Verizon's move comes several after AT&T said it would exempt video streamed through DirecTV from wireless users' data caps. Verizon previously zero-rated some material, including short videos streamed through its Go90 mobile app, but those offerings appear less ambitious than the new data-free TV initiative.

Carriers argue that zero-rating programs benefit consumers by enabling them to stream video without worrying about pricey overages.

But net neutrality proponents argue that data-cap exemptions, even if initially popular with consumers, will ultimately harm subscribers as well as online video providers. That's because these types of programs give subscribers an obvious incentive to access video from the providers themselves (or affiliated companies), at the expense of unaffiliated services like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Among other provisions, the FCC's net neutrality rules broadly prohibit carriers from engaging in conduct that hinders the ability of consumers and content companies to reach each other online. When the FCC published the rules, it said it would take a case-by-case approach to evaluating whether data caps -- and exemptions from them -- are harmful.

Last year, the FCC said AT&T's data-free TV program, as well as Verizon's earlier zero-ratings effort, appeared to violate the regulations. But in February, current FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reversed that decision and officially endorsed zero-ratings initiatives. He said at the time that data cap exemptions "have proven to be popular among consumers, particularly low-income Americans, and have enhanced competition in the wireless marketplace."