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from the so-much-for-fighting-the-good-fight dept.
c0lo writes:
"Many news outlets announced that Netflix agreed to pay Comcast for smoother network access.
The deal, which has been nearly a year in the making, would give Netflix direct access to Comcast's high-speed network, the two companies confirmed Sunday.
Under this new deal, Netflix will access Comcast's network directly or, almost directly, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news this afternoon. 'Under the deal, Netflix won't be able to place its servers inside Comcast's data centers, which Netflix had wanted,' the paper explains. 'Instead, Comcast will connect to Netflix's servers at data centers operated by other companies.'
The agreement is a surprise because Netflix could have used the issue as leverage while Comcast attempts to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc., an industry researcher said. 'I would have thought Netflix would have held out with the Time Warner Cable deal looming,' Craig Moffett, founder of research firm MoffettNathanson LLC, said in an interview. 'Netflix can ask for whatever it wants and has a reasonable shot at getting conditions put on the merger that could provide it with long-term benefit. On the other hand, that could be precisely what spurred this deal that Comcast was willing to settle with Netflix for a relatively low price to make the Netflix problem go away ahead of the regulatory review.'"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bucc5062 on Monday February 24 2014, @08:16PM
But is this Comcast fleecing Netflix for more money to use the connections the already pay for or is it Netflix paying to upgrade the connection. If the former then welcome to the new internet where mob rule takes on a new meaning. If the latter, then it still does not seem a great deal for Netflix for then they would need to to the same for each ISP. Either way, let us all wave goodbye to net neutrality. A do nothing government, a unknowing (or uncaring) public will let it slide into a cable model.
I heard this driving home from work (on NPR, about that last reasonable good news outlet left) and just felt sad.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Monday February 24 2014, @09:41PM
A third alternative is that Comcast, in light of wide reporting of their slowing Netflix traffic, finally dropped the price to something Netflix could swallow.
Its hard to know who blinked here. I think we won't know for years.
Comcast not wanting Netflix servers in their data centers is probably a defensive move to keep all the other such services from demanding similar accommodations.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Discussion should abhor vacuity, as space does a vacuum.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Angry Jesus on Tuesday February 25 2014, @01:37AM
A third alternative is that Comcast, in light of wide reporting of their slowing Netflix traffic, finally dropped the price to something Netflix could swallow.
Given that Comcast really really really wants to buy Time-Warner and wants to fool the FTC into believing that it won't be anti-competitive, I think that they were under a lot of pressure to make this issue go away.
Verizon, on the other hand, isn't facing any such scrutiny and so will continue to screw over their own customers. They don't really give a shit about them anyways - all FiOS development has been frozen for a couple of years now anyway since verizon thinks its more profitable to spend it on cell phone customers who at least have an oligopoly to choose from instead of the typical broadband monopoly.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by edIII on Tuesday February 25 2014, @03:59PM
This is such total bullshit. Concede what? Netflix is not evil here.
Netflix operates its own god damned Content Delivery Network
The "moral high ground" the carriers supposedly have is their horrible burden of costly traffic on them. This is bullshit. Most people here know why. Peering and Transit Agreements. Any network receiving Netflix generated traffic to one of their customers is being paid both ways. Their customer compensates them (they can't complain about the rates - no sympathy for overselling) *and* their PAT compensates them as well. That PAT cost is transferred all the way back to the originating network, and NETFLIX pays it.
Only ONE carrier can rightfully complain about anything and that would be the one single solitary network that Netflix operates on.
But wait, there's more.... Netflix is not on a single solitary network. They spent $50 million in 2009 on 3rd party CDN's, and now with their very own Open Connect, may be spending 10 times more. I can't find anything on line or in the filings at the moment.
So Netflix is in fact ponying up metric crap tons of cash per day to carriers for the bandwidth, and doing so with the efficiency in terms of both cost and network traffic. They've been doing so for at least 5 years. Not a recent development.
The carriers are whiny entitled little brats that are being affected by an obvious reason. Since Netflix has created so much damn traffic, their own networks are now saturated with it. However, they are being paid for it. However again, they are only being paid what they get from vastly overselling their own networks....
GREED.
Netflix is absolutely guilty of one thing. Lowering the profit margins of the carriers by reducing the ridiculous amount of money they get for selling something that doesn't even exist, their "unlimited" bandwidth.
Sorry guys. I know it sucks when you sold 10 billion apples, and those bastards your customers, come and nicely ask for the all the apples they bought.