Comcast-Time Warner Merger

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but some of us like Internet porn.

Comments

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Netflix is paying off Comcast for direct traffic access, says WSJ (http://www.theverge.com/2014/2/23/5439566/the-wall-street-journal-confirms-multiyear-traffic-deal-between)

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

LOL If you cannot beat them, pay them.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

This actually probably works out better for Netflix in the long run. Netflix doesn't have to pay a middleman to deliver data to Comcast anymore, and Comcast gets better service for their customers.

I don't think this would impact net neutrality at all, given that this doesn't prioritize any traffic but instead makes it easier for Comcast to receive and distribute. If net neutrality regulations would impact this sort of deal, though, it's just another reason to avoid those regs completely.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Perhaps. But it looks to me like there was something in Comcast's set-up
that made NetFlix service bumpy, maybe quite unintentional, but it was a
problem such that Comcast was not all that interested in getting to the bottom
of it and fixing it, and so Netflix had to pay an extra toll. If there is something
to this, it does not strike me as being especially wholesome, but I guess we're
grown-ups and understand that life is not always very nice. In the end, as consumers,
we will presumably have to pay higher prices, as always.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Well, the problem was, ironically, not prioritizing traffic. Most of their customers wanted Netflix, but since they're treating everything coming in the same way, the biggest player suffers.

By having a direct pipe coming in, essentially, you're solving the prioritization problem on the incoming end while not impacting how it gets to the customer.