THE CABLE PIPELINE

The Real Threat To Web Video   The referenced article by John Kosinski, a guest contributor to Tubefilter News and the Political Director for the Writers Guild of America, West is somewhat misguided in its attempt to indicate that “web neutrality” is in jeopardy from large pipeline conglomerates like Comcast, Time Warner and others.

The upcoming test with five-thousand Comcast customers will provide a real window of consumer demand for exclusive content on the Internet, and is just a sample of companies who want to provide the best possible customer experience with the growing venue of Internet Content.

To say that this is an attempt to control viewing habits of the Internet users is, I think, a form of “fear tactics”, to stop the monetization of exclusively created programming. The companies involved, cable/Telco pipelines, and programmers are using the “free market system” to enhance their business interests in an ever increasing competitive broadband environment. It does not, in my opinion, hamper the free and open viewing habits of Internet users, after all Hulu, an Internet content competitor, is offering its version of of the same consumer demand.

Sufficed to say, let the ‘free market” system work out the details of content viewing since the bottom line is ultimately whether consumers will accept or deny these advances of exclusive content providers. Over-regulation of markets will dampen innovation and therefore, choice for consumers, not the other way around.