Time Warner Cable (TWC) should not be mad at Netflix...
Time Warner Cable (TWC) should not be mad at Netflix for only making its Super HD-formatted content available to ISPs that join Netflix’s Open Connect content delivery network (CDN), said Harold Feld, Public Knowledge senior vice president, in a blog…
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post Thursday (http://xrl.us/bobd2g). A day earlier, TWC said in a statement that Netflix was “closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs” (CD Jan 18 p18). Netflix had encountered peering trouble when Comcast forced Level 3 Communications, Netflix’s then-transport ISP, to pay to connect rather than enter a peering agreement, Feld said Thursday. “It was fairly predictable after that (and after Comcast announcing that its Xfinity content would get special treatment when streamed to Comcast subscribers) that Netflix would do the Free Market thing and fight back,” he said. Fred Campbell, president of the Communications Liberty and Innovation Project, said Thursday in a separate blog post that Netflix’s actions threatened Internet freedom. “Netflix’s goal is to coerce ISPs into paying for a free Internet fast lane for Netflix content,” Campbell said (http://xrl.us/bobdz8). “If Netflix succeeds, it would harm Internet consumers and competition among video streaming providers. It would also fundamentally alter the economics and openness of the Internet."