When Comcast bullies Netflix, the Internet loses

[Renew Deal]

Quite the brouhaha arose last week over Comcast's demands that Level 3 Communications pay exorbitant fees to deliver Netflix content to Comcast subscribers. There was outrage -- but not nearly enough.

Level 3 was just a proxy with a contract to run Netflix's wildly popular streaming service -- a service, by the way, the likes of which the American consumer has wanted for a long time. There's lots to love about a $7.99 monthly fee to access untold thousands of movies and television shows with the click of a remote control. Comcast, however, is not a fan. Hmm, do you think its antipathy has something to do with Comcast's overpriced On Demand service?
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Comcast is whining about Netflix traffic specifically, demanding a perpetual fee to "transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast's customers who request such content." The customers in question are already paying Comcast bunches of money every month for Internet access. In many places, these consumers have no alternative to Comcast for broadband access.

In effect, Comcast is trying to charge everyone involved in an Internet transaction simply to carry the data that they're already obligated to carry. The company is double-dipping, and if nothing is done to regulate this type of action, this is just the beginning of what will shortly become a sea change in how the Internet operates. We can expect the costs for everything we do on the Internet to rise drastically.
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Shame on Level 3 for acquiescing. It could have easily made a very public furor over this demand, posting open letters and clarifying what Comcast wanted, right along with explanations of why Comcast subscribers may be having problems using Netflix. That's the only way to send this kind of nonsense back to the murky depths from whence it came.

If there's one thing I've learned from movies and television shows, it's that you never negotiate with the hostage taker -- it makes them more likely to take additional hostages.

http://www.infoworld.com/t/tech-industry-analysis/when-comcast-bullies-netflix-the-internet-loses-339

[Speck Tater]

1. Soon the Internet, like health care, will be available only to the rich. nt