Net Neutrality – It’s Baaack!

The phrase “net neutrality” is a seriously loaded term, which is why Comcast has to be so irritated that it’s once again part of the lexicon as we head into this week’s Cable Show. In case you haven’t been following along, the latest dust-up started when Netflix CEO Reed Hastings raised objections on Facebook over Comcast’s Xfinity app on the Microsoft Xbox. The Xfinity app is delivered over Comcast’s “managed IP network” and, unlike with other over-the-top (OTT) services, video streamed over the app doesn’t count toward broadband usage caps.

Then Sony vice president Michael Aragon jumped with his own cap complaints. He went on the record to say that Sony was postponing its plans to enter the video service market precisely because of the bandwidth cap issue.

Fast forward to today, and we now have a virtual war going on between Comcast, and, well, the rest of the world. Just as the Cable Show starts up – and the government crowd pours into Boston for the event – Comcast finds itself fighting on three fronts.

1. Caps – Comcast says it’s doing away with caps in favor of “improved data usage management approaches.” This essentially means tiered usage, but with a starting tier that goes all the way up to a 300 GB cap. Not a bad approach actually, but let’s call it what it is. We’re still talking caps.

2. Traffic Prioritization – This is a big net neutrality issue, and it’s turned into a “he said/she said” debate. Comcast says categorically that it’s not prioritizing its own traffic over competitors’ content, but in the last mile of delivery, it’s still not clear how the operator is managing bandwidth demands across only three  or four DOCSIS channels.

3. Spectrum – And don’t forget the cable industry’s deal with the devil, er Verizon. There are new questions about how the proposed spectrum deal between cable operators and Verizon Wireless plays out in a world where control of wired and wireless broadband is clearly consolidating. Net neutrality? That gets harder when so few entities manage the net.

In fairness, Comcast isn’t the only operator facing attacks over broadband management. But as the largest cable company, it’s certainly the biggest target. And with the Cable Show cranking into full gear, I’m betting Comcast is wishing it had just a bit of a lower profile in the net neutrality debate right now.

2 thoughts on “Net Neutrality – It’s Baaack!”

  1. “I’m betting Comcast is wishing it had just a bit of a lower profile in the net neutrality debate right now.”

    Meh. I’ve long thought they bought NBC in no small part in order to have a controlling voice in the Democratic Party’s propaganda channel.

    If you own the voice of the Party that is pro-regulation, it’s hard for anyone to regulate you.

    I think Comcast is going to try to bigfoot the whole process, and that they don’t really care about the high profile. That’s why they’re the one pushing the limits here. (Of course, Julius could prove himself to be a clean, conscientious, and diligent public servant and prove me wrong, which would be nice for the American citizenry.)

  2. I’m actually glad that comment got disappeared. There were so many possible responses, none of them seemingly good, that I was too confused on how to proceed.

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