PSound
04-15-09, 01:05 PM
The issue continues to get broader and more broad range coverage. Good news for those who want fair pricing for the service, and not pricing based on maintaining a video consumption monopoly.
Time Warner Cable Inc. customers beware: If you're what the company considers a heavy Internet user, you could soon be charged as much as $150 a month for online access.
The issue for telecom companies is services like Netflix, the online video rental company, which allows subscribers to instantly view entire movies and shows on their computer or TV via the Net.
"The cable companies argue that they can't handle this demand," said Karl Bode, editor of BroadBand Reports.com, a website devoted to high-speed Internet use. "But if you look more closely, the growth of the Internet is manageable through reasonable equipment upgrades."
He sees tiered pricing primarily as a money grab by the gatekeepers to the Net.
"They're just trying to monetize Internet video," Bode said. "They want people to accept the idea of metered billing so that when Internet video expands, it will be more profitable because families will be comfortable paying for each gigabyte used, rather than the current all-you-can-eat system."
Bode disputed this forecast. He said there was no reason to think that the Net's infrastructure can't keep pace with the demands of a broadband world. And, he asked, aren't network improvements factored in to the millions of dollars in monthly access fees we're already paying?
Time Warner has more than 8 million broadband customers paying between $35 and $57 per month, depending on download speed. Basic cable TV service can cost an additional $50.
"I think this is ultimately about the cable companies being afraid that you'll cancel your cable subscription and watch everything online, giving you two services for the price of one," Bode said.
"By charging a ridiculous amount for Internet viewing, they hope you'll scale back online and go back to watching things on cable."
As it happens, an "under new management" sign is up at the Federal Communications Commission. And President Obama's pick to serve as the agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, has a background in the online world and is said to be a strong believer that everyone deserves affordable broadband Internet access.
One of the FCC's next steps should be to determine how much the Net really costs on a per-gigabyte basis, and to ensure that access providers charge a fair price.
Heavy Net users should pay more. But not that much more.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus15-2009apr15,0,6385684.column
http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN956177832.html?industryid=45173
Time Warner Cable Inc. customers beware: If you're what the company considers a heavy Internet user, you could soon be charged as much as $150 a month for online access.
The issue for telecom companies is services like Netflix, the online video rental company, which allows subscribers to instantly view entire movies and shows on their computer or TV via the Net.
"The cable companies argue that they can't handle this demand," said Karl Bode, editor of BroadBand Reports.com, a website devoted to high-speed Internet use. "But if you look more closely, the growth of the Internet is manageable through reasonable equipment upgrades."
He sees tiered pricing primarily as a money grab by the gatekeepers to the Net.
"They're just trying to monetize Internet video," Bode said. "They want people to accept the idea of metered billing so that when Internet video expands, it will be more profitable because families will be comfortable paying for each gigabyte used, rather than the current all-you-can-eat system."
Bode disputed this forecast. He said there was no reason to think that the Net's infrastructure can't keep pace with the demands of a broadband world. And, he asked, aren't network improvements factored in to the millions of dollars in monthly access fees we're already paying?
Time Warner has more than 8 million broadband customers paying between $35 and $57 per month, depending on download speed. Basic cable TV service can cost an additional $50.
"I think this is ultimately about the cable companies being afraid that you'll cancel your cable subscription and watch everything online, giving you two services for the price of one," Bode said.
"By charging a ridiculous amount for Internet viewing, they hope you'll scale back online and go back to watching things on cable."
As it happens, an "under new management" sign is up at the Federal Communications Commission. And President Obama's pick to serve as the agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, has a background in the online world and is said to be a strong believer that everyone deserves affordable broadband Internet access.
One of the FCC's next steps should be to determine how much the Net really costs on a per-gigabyte basis, and to ensure that access providers charge a fair price.
Heavy Net users should pay more. But not that much more.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus15-2009apr15,0,6385684.column
http://www.contentagenda.com/articleXml/LN956177832.html?industryid=45173