As it promised, Netflix has filed a petition to the FCC demanding that it deny the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner. The 256-age document claims that such a merger would result in "serious public interest harm, and no discernible public interest -- two red flags that would normally stop a merger. Netflix cited several examples of harm already inflicted on it Comcast or Time Warner Cable. The most familiar one was to "shift Netflix traffic to paid interconnections," in other words using network congestion as an excuse to push Netflix to paid "fast lanes." It also argued that consumer data caps are another tactic that have been used to push consumers away from "OVDs" or streaming companies like Netflix.
Netflix added that a merged Comcast and Time Warner Cable company would have huge leverage over it and rivals like Hulu in several ways. First off, it cited "minimal high-speed broadband internet competition," saying that DSL services from competitors like AT&T and Verizon are insufficient for services like Netflix. It added that it's often prohibitively expensive for consumers to switch services, and that there are often zero alternatives in any case. Finally, it complained about the problem of "terminating networks," or the point at which data switches to another service, saying that providers can deliberately congest such routes to extra fees -- and in fact, have no incentive not to.
Most of these facts are well known to the public, of course, but would Netflix (and its customers) may suffer the most if such a merger goes through -- so its legal challenge to the FCC is significant. It has now joined the Dish Network in filing such a brief along with numerous consumers.
Filed under: Networking, Internet
Source: Netflix
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