SBC denies it will block video traffic

Representatives from SBC Communications deny that the company will block video on the new fiber-to-the-curb network it's building.

An item in the Sunday edition of the industry newsletter Future of TV.net, published by Broadband Reports publisher Dave Burstein, quoted SBC's chief operating officer, Randall Stephenson, as saying, "We're going to control the video on our network. The content guys will have to make a deal with us."

The brief item in the newsletter implies that SBC will block all video traffic traveling over its broadband network even if it comes from the public Internet. This means that SBC would essentially block video traffic from any Web sites that distribute video, if the content provider has not struck a deal with SBC.

SBC's public relations people deny this claim.

"It's untrue," said Dave Pacholczyk, a spokesman for SBC. "We support the open Internet principals of the FCC. Customers can access any content they want, so long as it's lawful, over the public Internet. We are negotiating content deals with content providers for our own television service, just like Verizon is doing and like the cable companies have always done."

Pacholczyk added that the COO's comments only referred to content offered as part of SBC's paid TV service.

But Burstein's newsletter insists that the quote from the #2 guy at SBC was not taken out of context: "Selim Bingol (an SBC spokesperson) claims that Randall's comments only pertained to what video is on their own offering, but that's simply not so. I made a point of saying I was discussing video delivered directly, specifically that not in their package. Selim wasn't there, I was, and so were others who can be asked about the conversation. I'm not misquoting."

So what's really going on? It's tough to know, since SBC's new network that will increase bandwidth to homes is not complete yet. SBC isn't expected to debut its TV service until next year after it finishes the network upgrade.

The topic of port blocking has already come up with respect to voice over IP phone services. Earlier this year, telecom provider Madison River Communications started blocking traffic from VoIP provider Vonage. But the company stopped after the Federal Communications Commission intervened. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said market demand for these services will force broadband providers to keep their pipes open. But just in case that doesn't happen, the FCC is also looking into establishing guidelines to protect consumers from this practice.