Comcast has begun imposing a fee on Internet middleman Level 3 Communications, one of the companies that Netflix has hired to deliver movies and TV shows to Web customers.
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable TV company, has set up an Internet “toll booth,” charging Level 3 whenever customers request content, the Broomfield, Colorado-based company said in a statement yesterday.
Level 3 plans to complain to U.S. regulators who may enact so-called net-neutrality rules next month. The Federal Communications Commission is seeking to bar phone and cable providers from interfering with legal traffic on their networks. The rules are backed by President Barack Obama and companies led by Google, EBay and IAC/InterActiveCorp. Phone and cable companies say rules aren’t needed and may hurt investment.
“This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access,” Thomas Stortz, Level 3’s chief legal officer, said in the statement. “With this action, Comcast is preventing competing content from ever being delivered to Comcast’s subscribers at all, unless Comcast’s unilaterally determined toll is paid.”
Comcast, which is seeking regulatory approval to acquire majority ownership of NBC Universal, defended the fee in a statement, saying it is based on “long established and mutually acceptable commercial arrangements” with Level 3’s peers…
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, in proposing net neutrality rules last year, called for a principle of non- discrimination by Internet-service providers. The FCC will meet on Dec. 21.
“This means they cannot block or degrade lawful traffic over their networks,” Genachowski said.
If you don’t pay the toll, your traffic doesn’t go through – or Comcast will slow it down enough to make it unwatchable.
I will be very surprised if the FCC does anything. Our entire government has been bought and paid for.
“long established and mutually acceptable commercial arrangements” with Level 3’s peers… /// Yep, getting sued for monopolistic quashing of competitors but its all “mutually acceptable.”
It would be hard to get that stink off, if our dear regulators had any noses.
I really don’t know how I feel about this. If NetFlix is getting an unreasonable free ride on Comcast’s backbone, then there should be some sort of fee. On the other hand, if Comcast had reinvested a reasonable portion of their absurd profits into meeting a demand that has been foreseen for years, then this increased demand wouldn’t be a problem.
This whole country should have been fiber optic wired by now. Obama wants jobs? Ok. Start a national program to lay a piece of optical fiber to every doorstep. Lot of jobs there. And a lot of benefit to this country. Then subject the telecos & ISPs to regulation as public utilities.
As expected, Republicans oppose Net Neutrality.
The bought off Repukes want data prioritized or de-prioritized based on its type, source, and location.
Why? Because the scumbags are bought off by the Comcasts of the world. In addition to lining their pockets, Comcast will stream sheeple propaganda in high definition.
Problem with NetNeutrality is that it must not be done by FCC, never mind by their current law proposal. However, something needs to be done (I don’t buy that Netflix or anyone is getting a free ride…).
Problem with FCC is that there are so many loopholes in the law proposed by them that Comcast probably could pull something like this anyway. Worse, bill is full of language with open definitions to be interpreted by whoever is in charge of FCC at the moment. I see that as open door for Govt. abuse while Left is in power or bought and paid for interpretation when Right is in power.
The only way out is Constitutional: define any Internet communication as a free speech. Completely fundamental interpretation of Founders. Needed as they couldn’t imagine the Internet to specify it. You can’t obstruct or tamper with free speech, by definition. No need for corrupt FCC in the middle to make things worse. Actually, in such case FCC too would be banned of any meddling into the Internet. As it should be.
@#4 Right (properly) opposes current implementation idea for NetNeutrality. I am sure that part of the equation is “bought and paid for” but there is the part where they are right: with FCC able to regulate Internet its basic freedom is gone. And that is extremely important part. Same as with current “give your liberties for safety” trend. You’ll notice the harm when liberties are gone but it will be too late.
Most on the Right would support NetNeutrality in which both Govt. and businesses are prohibited from meddling into the Internet. But than Left can’t push their BigGovt agenda of meddling with it…
@dusanmal
The Republicans talk a good smaller government game but their record shows they love BigGovt as much as Democrats. Stop thinking that the Republicans have ANY moral high ground. They are ALL bought and paid for.
“If NetFlix is getting an unreasonable free ride on Comcast’s backbone, then there should be some sort of fee.”
There’s no free ride. They’re getting 50+ bucks a month from each streamer. This is about blocking competition to their VOD content. They want you to cripple your internet service so you can pay them 5 bucks a movie instead of 8 a month to their competitor for unlimited.
To me, it sounds like dusanmal is viewing the republicans as “the enemy of my enemy” more than supporting them, hence the “I am sure that part of the equation is “bought and paid for”. I don’t think dusanmal is one of the bobbo heads.
Well, let me also cheer dismal on: as all Pukes do, he insightfully counsels: “Most on the Right would support NetNeutrality in which both Govt. and businesses are prohibited from meddling into the Internet.” I guess only god can/should manage the interwebitubes, and we all know, the Pukes have god on their side.
What a dope. Although to be fair, this does sound like more like a typo than what dismal (should have??–usually??) types. “Usually” dismal and his ilk only want to keept government meddling out of their programs like Medicare and National Security. By excluding the private sector as well, one has to wonder how far the paranoia and stupidity goes? Dismal surely isn’t thinking of him self or his computer club is he?
Are you?
Ha, ha. Yes, in the middle of the worst depressions caused by undoing governmental controls, we have those who still support thrusting that knife as deep as possible into our collective throat.
Dismal. Dismal indeed.
#1 nailed it. In this fascist plutocracy the winners are the company owners and the losers are the customers stuck with anything but an open marketplace, and that’s not going to change under a Republican Congress.
Just for my info, as I am not a tech guy, don’t I ALREADY PAY COMCAST for my cable service? Used to have download and upload limits and had to pay more for bandwidth and what not. And with that revenue stream, Comcast got filthy rich and my rates go up every 6 months on a billing form that rivals my old phone bill for designed complexity.
Why do/should any “content provider” have to pay for stilling up Comcast’s tubes when I already have?
Is “net neutrality” even an issue or is double gouging the real issue==possible ONLY BY monopolistic market positions. The FCC, contrary to dismal’s ilk needs to be HIGHLY REGULATED just like a utility because thats what it is. Screw all these vertical monopolists who want the cum from both ends.
This is why any internet TV will be dead unless a neutral web is passed. The Cable companies pay a lot to Networks for programming and most American’s with broadband buy either TV,broadband or both from a cable company. Unless one of these Internet TV sites starts running cable to homes. The cable companies have you cornered.
Ditto on the free ride thing. No such thing. We’ve all been paying right along.
Didn’t Google buy up a lot of dark fiber? Wouldn’t it be great if they undercut Comcast, et al, and started some real competition?
I think #12 and #3 have the right idea. I was talking to my mother a couple of nights ago and was astonished to hear she pays over $150/month for a fairly basic cable, broadband and telephone (not Comcast). When I asked her how much of that was for the broadband, she couldn’t figure out the bill. She was going to scan and email it to me but she said it was 8 pages long! EIGHT pages??? And she doesn’t even get HBO or Showtime or even ESPN (and she does like the local basketball team).
With rates like that, they should have been reinvesting in upgrading the system for years. The phone and cable companies in America have made a real art of obfuscating their pricing structure and gouging their customers. They often operate as monopolies and where there is some competition they seem to fix prices!
Maybe it is time to take them back into the regulated community. They no longer provide luxuries but a necessity of modern life. Hell, even US Gov forms ask you for your email address, these days!
The only real alternative is for the Gov to nationalize the fiber and lease it to the lowest bidders – always at least two – so there is some real competition.
Need the Internet to be handled as a COMMON CARRIER WITH A UNIVERSAL SERVICE MANDATE – JUST LIKE TELEPHONES !!! Get the content producers out of the transmission business !!! Only way to get reasonable rates with extortionate tolls !!!
Wow! #3 to #16 got it right in one.
I completely agree.
Cable companies need to just disappear with the roll-out of fiber-to-the-home (as promised and paid for in the seventies but never delivered by the greedy telcos until now…)
Gee, Comcast… Anti-competitive much?
God bless FREE ENTERPRISE.
Free Enterprise for the poor, Socialism for the rich.
When the fibre hits the home, that will be the next HUGE technological revolution after the original internet.
Remember when they used copper and cable to do those things?
The first information utility to do it will own the entire ‘known’ universe.
Google? AT&T? Verison? China Telecom? Anybody?
I WANT MY OPTICAL NETWORK! AND I WANT IT NOW!