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Sony Put Video Service on Hold Due to Comcast Data Caps

Posted by Unknown on from the last-mile-conflict-of-interest dept.

suraj.sun writes with more fallout from Comcast's bandwidth caps that give preference to their own video services. From the article: "An executive from Sony said Monday that concerns about Comcast's discriminatory data cap are giving the firm second thoughts about launching an Internet video service, that would compete with cable and satellite TV services. In March,Comcast announced that video streamed to the Xbox from Comcast's own video service would be exempted from the cable giant's 250 GB monthly bandwidth cap. 'These guys have the pipe and the bandwidth,' he said. 'If they start capping things, it gets difficult.' Sony isn't the first Comcast rival to complain about the bandwidth cap. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has also blasted Comcast's discriminatory bandwidth cap as a violation of network neutrality. Comcast controls more than 20 percent of the residential broadband market, which means that Comcast effectively controls access to one-fifth of any American Internet video service's potential customers."

12 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. This is exactly why... by nebaz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mergers like Comcast/NBC should be illegal. Once content providers are also content distributers, they can pull shenanigans like these.

    --
    Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
    1. Re:This is exactly why... by CosaNostra+Pizza+Inc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It was illegal until...if I recall correctly, the FCC commissioner approved it. Then, only a few months later, the commissioner resigned to take a high-paying top level exec job at Comcast. Its obvious what happened but unfortunately, this form of bribery is also legal so long as it can't be proven. Back on topic...these discriminatory data caps obviously do not promote competition in business...One could hardly call this capitalism.

    2. Re:This is exactly why... by Peristaltic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Mergers like Comcast/NBC should be illegal.

      When you start paying Congress as much cash as Comcast, NBC and General Electric pay, then you can make the rules.

    3. Re:This is exactly why... by CosaNostra+Pizza+Inc · · Score: 5, Informative

      Meredith Attwell Baker. Four months after approving the deal, she was hired to serve as senior vice president for government affairs for the Comcast-controlled NBC Universal. In other words, after approving the deal, she left the FCC to become one of Comcast's top lobbyists. I say get rid of all corporate lobbyists in Washington. They don't belong there.

    4. Re:This is exactly why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      this form of bribery is also legal so long as it can't be proven

      That is a feature, not a bug.

    5. Re:This is exactly why... by cpu6502 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      >>>It was illegal until...if I recall correctly, the FCC commissioner approved it. Then, only a few months later, the commissioner resigned to take a high-paying top level exec job at Comcast.

      Wow.
      Sony just needs to sue Comcast.
      The Sherman Antitrust law is still in effect, forbids companies from using their monopoly or near-monopoly for unfair competitive advantage, and the FCC can't overrule that law.

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    6. Re:This is exactly why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's not really the same thing. When broadcast radio and TV "distributors" push their own content and suppress that of others, you have the choice to tune to a different channel. When an Internet operator pushes their own content at the cost of others, you're almost certainly screwed because it's very unlikely that you have a choice to not use Comcast. There is a valid analogy with Cable TV - but that's regulated, they have no choice but to carry all of the local TV stations.

      It's also more subtle. They aren't banning SONY from transmitting data over their network - they're just imposing bandwidth caps.

      This is clearly a bad thing - we *seriously* need net neutrality legislation to avoid this kind of problem.

  2. no problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm nowhere near my monthly data c

  3. AT&T 150GB cap by DigiShaman · · Score: 5, Informative

    AT&T capped my 6mb DSL account at 150GB a month.

    What happens if you exceed your data plan?

    You will receive a notice the first time your usage exceeds the data plan. We will send you alerts if your usage approaches or exceeds the amount of data included in your plan. If you exceed your monthly data plan a third time we'll charge you $10 for each additional 50 GB of data provided to you that month. You'll be charged $10 for every incremental 50 GB of usage beyond your plan.

    AT&T.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  4. Simply the worst. by Tommy+Bologna · · Score: 5, Insightful

    There is a reason Comcast won Comsumerist's Worst Corporation in America contest in 2010. Comcast should be disassembled and shot into space toward the sun.

  5. You're thinking too small by Benfea · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yes, we need to get rid of lobbyists, but the phenomenon you speak of is a different animal. If lobbying were illegal, then she would have received some other cushy job at NBC Universal. This whole "screw over the voters/taxpayers for Acme Corp, then get a cushy job with Acme Corp" routine happens in just about every part of the government, even the military.

    What we need to do is make it illegal for any high-ranking government employee to get a job with any corporation that is regulated by or a contractor for that employee's position. Generals can't get jobs with military contractors, FTC execs can't get jobs with Wall Street firms, FAA execs can't get jobs with airlines, etc., etc.

    I know what I am proposing sounds draconian, but this tactic has an incredibly corrupting influence over government, and this is the only thing I can think of to put an absolute stop to it. If anyone has any other ideas, I'm more than willing to listen.

  6. Ah, the old victim routine... by Benfea · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What is it about conservative/authoritarian political movements that causes them to do this? The Nazis were convinced they were being persecuted by Jews even as they stuffed them into ovens en masse. Apartheid South Africans were convinced they were being persecuted by dark-skinned Africans. And of course American conservolibertarians are convinced that the rich are being persecuted by the poor, men are being persecuted by women, Christians are being persecuted by homosexuals, whites are being persecuted by minorities, etc.

    It's not just that they are convinced they are victims. They are convinced they are victims when precisely the opposite is happening. I cannot fathom the level of delusion necessary to make people think this way, but it seems that every major conservative political movement does this.