IP Democracy: Where is Cable on Net Neutrality?

ZDNet’s Russell Shaw has this pointed item today about how muted the cable industry has been on the whole net neutrality debate. In contrast to the telcos (“no more free lunch” “they’re my pipes”), cable operators have been curiously, well, if not neutral, then kind of silent on the whole debate.

I say curious because the cable industry has as much, if not more, to lose when third parties decide to start selling video content and other applications over the Internet. For one thing, cable is the leading broadband provider in the country, even if the phone companies are catching up. Cable’s pipes will, therefore, be the predominant platform over which competitive video and voice applications will travel.

For another thing, cable is without a doubt the dominant video provider in the U.S. and if broadband connectivity enables anything that can’t be delivered over narrowband, it’s video. So by all rights cable should be leading the way in fighting the rise of competitive third party services.

But the industry isn’t doing that. Why? Perhaps because cable’s chieftains are smarter and more sophisticated than their telco counterparts — the phone companies are generating bad press for themselves and spawning stronger enemies with their push for a two-tiered Internet.

Really, though, cable’s nuanced response to the calls for net neutrality (the Internet is still immature…let’s not go there, they say) is a reflection of the industry’s desire to not fuel the engine headed towards a Telecom Act rewrite. Cable likes things the way they are and isn’t hankering for an overhaul of the Communications Act.

To the extent they hit the hustings and advocate a tiered Internet, cable operators would simply be fueling the fires of a legislative overhaul. But once it becomes absolutely clear that a rewrite is inevitable and cable has to take a stance, cable operators will probably side with the telcos.

So Shaw is right when he claims the “fee-happy” cable operators will, sooner or later, jump on the tiered Internet bandwagon.

But I don’t believe this for a second. Comcast and all the other big cable broadband service provders have never met a fee they didn’t like. If you don’t believe me, look at your cable bill. So I am betting they will see if a Congress sympathetic to big telecom refuses to codify net neutrality as law, and either with the FCC’s help or without it, gives a green light to the practice.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on February 8, 2006 11:53 AM to IP Democracy