Canadian cable company Videotron wants content providers to pay transmission fees for the bandwidth they use on broadband networks. CEO Robert Depatie said during a speech that companies transmitting content over broadband networks are, in essence, receiving free shipping.
“If the movie studio were to mail a DVD…they would expect to pay postage or courier fees,” Depatie said.
“Why should they not expect a transmission tariff?”
Depatie didn’t spell out how such a tariff regime would work, but, as Depatie’s comments make clear, the idea of charging content providers for their use of broadband networks is clearly not limited to U.S. broadband providers. Although Canadian cable operators share the same mind-set and basic structure as their U.S. peers, Depatie’s comments raise the question in my mind of whether non-U.S. broadband providers are in favor of charging content providers for using their networks.
Is the concept of charging content providers for network use a distinctly North American idea? I’d be interested in hearing about the positions of non-North American cable and telecom providers on the whole issue of network neutrality.
Cynthia Brumfield at 7:54 AM|Comments(0)
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