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Apple Reportedly In Talks With Comcast For Separate Apple Streaming Path
An anonymous reader writes "Apple is reportedly in talks with Comcast to obtain a network pathway dedicated to live and on-demand programming for subscribers of unspecified Apple services. In other words, Apple traffic would be separated from the rest of the public's internet traffic. This deal is different from the one Netflix made with Comcast in that Apple is reportedly asking for separate traffic in the path from Comcast facilities to consumer homes; the Netflix deal only gains Netflix direct access to the Comcast network. While net neutrality rules no longer restrict ISPs from monetizing their traffic prioritization, Comcast is still bound in that respect until 2018 as part of the conditions for its acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011."
This is how the internet dies : Toll roads.
I'm sure we'll see a rush to judgment that these deals are the end of network neutrality, blah, blah. From the outside looking in, we don't really know what added value is being provided to the content providers. Quite possibly, likely in my view, Comcast is providing CDN services to Netflix, and may be doing so for Apple as well. If so, there are benefits all around, in terms of Comcast, Netflix and reducing backbone congestion. A CDN is quite different from a toll road.
They have the cable tv mentality. I work for a small cable company and I can assure you that the ultimate goal is to leverage the small guys out of business. Tell me one large company in this country that isn't set up like a despots dream. Its funny how america is about democracy on the surface but allows non democratic entity to attain the vote in the country.