Written by Om Malik
Posted Friday, August 29, 2008 at 7:26 AM PT

 

Comcast’s Metered Broadband: Bad for Video Biz

Comcast will institute a 250 GB cap on its broadband connections starting Oct. 1. Expect other carriers to follow suit and make tiered broadband a reality. Much as I would like to think otherwise, this is the end of the Internet as we know it. I will say this again: this is to stymie services like Hulu, NetFlix and Amazon On-Demand. Read more over at GigaOM.

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Comments (4)

  • No it won’t. Cell phone companies set up tiered voice plans, did that ruin the telephone?

    And your link back to GigaOm is bad, pointing to a story about Apple and iTunes sales or something like that.

    Russell Heimlich8:32 AM on August 29, 2008 Reply

  • Broadband caps will certainly temper use of data. It shows cable cos are really afraid of the disruption of internet video.

    Russell: Yes tiered voice plans of cell phones definitely reduce consumption. A good example is Cricket (aka Leap Wireless) which is an unlimited plan. The average subscriber uses 1500 minutes. That shows unlimited plans result in higher use.

    keith — 8:42 AM on August 29, 2008 Reply

  • Do the words IMPROVE VIDEO COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY make sense to you? It may sound like a rat race at first but it’s a start. At least Netflix has their DVD service to fall back on.

    Jeff Seale — 6:38 PM on August 29, 2008 Reply

  • It is the end of the internet we know it as far as network operators absorbing cost for others (BBC iPlayer, NBC DIrect). For consumers, this gives Comcast a large incentive to bring video and other high-intensity internet apps to their network via. their own initiatives (Fancast) or 3rd parties.

    On a side note… Verizon Aircards, iPhones, etc. all cap at 5 Gigabytes… 250 is generous (at present).

    http://hmmconvenient.blogspot.com

    HmmConvenient11:21 AM on August 30, 2008 Reply

Linkbacks (1)

  • Most are focusing on small details around Comcast……

    …and are failing to see the much bigger picture that this presents to the industry at large. I believe Comcast will create a notion of “on network” (within Comcast peers) vs. “off network” (outboun……

    HmmConvenient Daily11:19 AM on August 30, 2008

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