Netflix & Comcast Reach Deal on Service

[strife]

Link

Comcast, the country’s largest cable and broadband provider, and Netflix, the giant television and movie streaming service, announced an agreement Sunday in which Netflix will pay Comcast for faster and more reliable access to Comcast’s subscribers.

It is also unclear whether the Comcast-Netflix deal violates the principles of what is known as net neutrality — where all content providers have equal and free access to consumers. People close to the deal characterize it as a common arrangement. Content companies frequently pay a middleman to carry traffic to a broadband provider, which then moves through its pipes and into a consumer’s home.

In a news release announcing the deal, the companies said, “Netflix receives no preferential network treatment under the multiyear agreement.” Details were not disclosed, but a person close to the companies said it involved annual payments of several million dollars.

Hmm, not sure what to think about this. Would be nice to know more details about it, but evidently they haven't been released yet.

“This is the water in the basement for the Internet industry,” Mr. Wu said, the first in what could be a flood of such arrangements. “I think it is going to be bad for consumers,” he added, because such costs are often passed through to the customer.

One fear is that if such deals become common, only the wealthiest content companies will be able to afford to pay for them, which could stifle the next Netflix from ever getting off the ground.

I guess we'll see when Netflix raises their prices... I'm curious to see if this hurts Netflix's stock value(I'm showing it's currently down .063%, but that obviously could be just general fluctuation).

The announcement on Sunday confirmed reports that had trickled out late last week, as close watchers of Internet traffic began to detect a more direct Internet path of Netflix videos to Comcast customers.

In recent months, Netflix had reported that delivery speed of its content to Comcast subscribers had declined by more than 25 percent, resulting in frequent interruptions and delays for customers trying to stream television shows and movies delivered through Netflix. Customers of other providers, including Verizon, also reported delays.

....... Any of you Netflix users notice any of this recently? Fucking Comcast is the devil...