Ain't that nice?
Ok, if you look deeper you should discover what's going on in Canada since Netflix launched. The bits are more Netflix than any other content category. More than the famed Torrents.
Bottomline? Netflix may have struck gold but there's always a taxman.
Bob
When I first read about Comcast charging Level 3 (a Netflix partner) a fee for delivery video, I'm thinking, "Wow...how incredibily stupid on Comcast's part. With all the hub bub about Net Neutrality and the pending Comcast/NBC deal, why...WHY would they take this step??
I just ran into this post on a political news blog (rawstory.com at http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/comcast-forces-netflix-partner-pay-toll-deliver-video/) which --if true-- sheds a different light on this. Here's the post:
"I work for a very large ISP (not comcast) and this headline is misleading.
Level3 is a transit provider. That means ISP's PAY a per megabit fee to :evel3 for any traffic Level3 carries for the ISP.
Normally, ISP's will use their free peering partnership (called settlement free peering) with other carriers out there, like Limelight, to carry most of their ISP's traffic back and forth. because...this saves money.
Netflix just signed an exclusive carry arrangement with Level3.
This now means ALL Netflix traffic coming in to ISP networks NOW costs each ISP on a per megabit basis.
MY ISP negotiates contracts with Level3 based upon historical traffic patterns and our fee is based upon that historical level of traffic.
Network traffic measurements taken recently showed Netflix traffic estimated at about 20% of all peak hour internet traffic.
That means Comcast (and my ISP) now pay about 20% more to Level3 than we did before they signed the contract with Netflix. That's MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars a MONTH from ISP's all over the world.
It;s a VERY REAL QUESTION that Level3 may not have negotiated in good faith, knowing full well they were in a position to increase all ISP traffic (fee paying traffic) on the Level3 network by 20%,
Comcast has a duty to try to recover their costs and they are. Level3 is bitching because they thought they'd struck gold here. They are the number 1 fee based transit provider in the world.
AND..they have a much deserved reputation for using their size to leverage crummy deals from ISP's for transit.
This headline is misleading because, from my perspective in my companies backbone Engineering group, I firmly believe Level3 did not negotiate in good faith. "

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