Despite earlier equivocations, the Federal Communications Commission has said it will hold a second public hearing on network neutrality following last month's botched public session at Harvard, at which cable giant Comcast paid people to take up space.

The F.C.C. said this morning that a new "en banc" hearing will take place at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on Thursday, April 17.

Last month's hearing on the subject sparked controversy after Portfolio.com reported that Comcast paid people off the street to show up at the hearing at Harvard. The event's organizer—the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard—was not amused by the company's tactics.

Consumer groups praised the F.C.C.'s decision to hold another hearing in the wake of the Comcast debacle.

"Just as the internet benefited from widespread public participation, so will the debate over its future," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press. "The hearing at Stanford—the birthplace of our internet economy—gives Web innovators a chance to weigh in on the policies that will shape the industry for a generation.

"We look forward to working with the F.C.C. to ensure that all interested parties are accommodated. With the future of the internet at stake, no one should be shut out of the conversation," Silver added.

The F.C.C. is reviewing Comcast's practice of slowing down or blocking the delivery of some internet content over its cable network. The company says it is engaging only in prudent network management, but critics have accused it of trying to hobble potential rivals in the video-on-demand business.