Netflix vs Comcast : WHO WILL PREVAIL???

[Pihk]

Netflix Partner Says Comcast ‘Toll’ Threatens Online Video Delivery (NY Times)

Level 3 Communications, a central partner in the Netflix online movie service, accused Comcast on Monday of charging a new fee that puts
Internet video companies at a competitive disadvantage.

Level 3, which helps to deliver Netflix’s streaming movies, said Comcast had effectively erected a tollbooth that “threatens the open Internet,” and indicated that it would seek government intervention.
Comcast quickly denied that the clash had anything to do with network
neutrality, instead calling it “a simple commercial dispute.”

The dispute highlighted the growing importance of Internet video delivery — an area that some people say needs to be monitored more closely by regulators. Net neutrality, which posits that Internet
traffic should be free of any interference from network operators like
Comcast, is thought to be on the December agenda of the Federal
Communications Commission.

“With this action, Comcast demonstrates the risk of a ‘closed’ Internet, where a retail broadband Internet access provider decides whether and how their subscribers interact with content,” Thomas C.
Stortz, the chief legal officer for Level 3, said in a statement
Monday.

con'd

[Pihk]

And, of course, the mandatory online petition. Make yer voice heard, etc.(TM)

[Pihk]

Choice quote:

Those issues cut to the heart of Comcast’s imminent acquisition of NBC Universal, which is in the final stages of review by the F.C.C. and the Justice Department. The F.C.C. is considering attaching a condition to the merger that would aim to keep Comcast’s Internet network open to competitors, according to public filings this month.

In theory, without government action, Comcast could speed up streams of NBC programs and slow down streams of its rivals’ programs. “This may be one of those teaching moments for consumers to understand what’s at stake,” said Michael McGuire, a media analyst for Gartner.

Why oh why do we, as a society, tolerate mergers that create giant corporations that seem to answer to no one??? Seems history is repeating itself in the high tech world

[spiderpig]

Verizon FIOS, FTW!!!!

[Pihk]

Word is bond.

[Knaldskalle]

And Verizon would probably do exactly the same thing if they were in a position to do so.

[thatboy]

Ayup.

[Pihk]

FIOS is so fat in bandwidth that it would be hard for Verizon to try and charge more for data-intense apps like Netflix and keep a straight face.

Hard, but not impossible.

[eviltimes]

But Verizon-FIOS is microscopic compared to Comcast or even anybody else. They have no capitol and a tiny, tiny bit of the market. And most of their growth is in new construction homes, and you know how well that's doing. I think the FIOS thing is just bull, they don't have the existing potential customer base nor the cash to rewire (lay glass) in existing neighborhoods. Comcast is a monster and is flush with cash hell, they're buying NBC! I can't see this having any real meaning. Comcasts' only real competition are the little roof discs, but those just don't have the bandwidth or picture quality (for everyone) to compete. People have downgraded to little roof discs only because of the current economic situation. I bet they go back to Cable in a few years as the economy recovers.

[Pihk]

But Verizon-FIOS is microscopic compared to Comcast or even anybody else.

Of course. But so long as my house (and sp's) are hooked up, Shit Be Stellar!

[eviltimes]

You and sp and your damned FIOS.

Damn. :(

[Cheryl]

Here's another petition.

[HeyKitty]

Thanks for posting the petitions! I have signed both and posted on my FB page. I always told people that Comcast was the devil and this proves it. I LOVE Netflix and my Roku box. If Comcast comes between that, I will disconnect my services ASAP