The Cable Industry Wants Netflix Investigated For Throttling Last week Netflix acknowledged that it has quietly been throttling the Netflix streams of companies like AT&T and Verizon for five years. Why? Netflix claimed it was to help these companies' customers better deal with usage caps, adding that it doesn't throttle streams to Sprint and T-Mobile because "historically those two companies have had more consumer-friendly policies." That Netflix was doing this covertly quickly raised the hackles of companies like AT&T, which claimed it was "outraged" by the revelations.

The American Cable Association went a step further, issuing a statement calling for an FCC investigation, despite the fact only wireless streams were throttled (to 600 kbps). AT&T said it was "disappointed, but not surprised, that Netflix used its immunity from the FCC's Net Neutrality rules to engage in this practice." The organization, which mostly represents smaller cable operators (but has NBC Universal as a member), also took aim at the FCC's net neutrality rules, calling them "horribly one-sided and unfair because it leaves consumers unprotected from the actions of edge providers that block and throttle lawful traffic." The problem with that logic? Net neutrality rules were created specifically for broadband precisely because of limited competition in the sector. While a customer can stop using an "edge provider" like Netflix whose policies they don't agree with, that's often not an option when it comes to broadband providers. Were there more broadband competition, we wouldn't technically need net neutrality rules. Still, the ACA was undaunted in its demand for an investigation. "ACA calls on the FCC to initiate a Notice of Inquiry into the practices of edge providers and how these companies can threaten the openness of the Internet," the group said. "Under Section 706, the FCC has the authority to conduct such an inquiry and issue regulations, should it be deemed necessary." A Netflix blog post states the company was only looking out for the nation's capped wireless users. "We believe restrictive data caps are bad for consumers and the Internet in general, creating a dilemma for those who increasingly rely on their mobile devices for entertainment, work and more," Netflix said. The company added that it was interested in "striking a balance that ensures a good streaming experience while avoiding unplanned fines from mobile providers." If there's one thing Netflix can be dinged for, it's for failing to be transparent when it has spent the last few years lecturing ISPs on transparency. The company says it's revealing a "data saver" control scheme in a few months that will give mobile users more control over their stream quality and Netflix data consumption. If there's one thing Netflix can be dinged for, it's for failing to be transparent when it has spent the last few years lecturing ISPs on transparency. The company says it's revealing a "data saver" control scheme in a few months that will give mobile users more control over their stream quality and Netflix data consumption.







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Most recommended from 92 comments



xirian

Premium Member

join:2003-01-26

Beacon, NY 32 recommendations xirian Premium Member Makes no sense Netflix isn't an ISP, its a content provider. They're really reaching on this one, most likely pissed at all the overage $ they lost out. ISurfTooMuch

join:2007-04-23

Tuscaloosa, AL 17 recommendations ISurfTooMuch Member All right then If the cable industry wants to have Netflix investigated for this, then I'd like to propose that the cable companies be investigated for compressing the video and audio of the channels they carry. I mean, if I'm paying for a channel, then I should be getting every bit of audio and video data that channel is broadcasting, not the amount the cable company thinks I deserve. I'd also like an investigation of below-the-line charges that their customers can't decline. If they tell me the cost is $x, then that's what I want to pay.



If these guys want transparency, then let's have transparency all around.

jsolo1

Premium Member

join:2001-07-01 15 recommendations jsolo1 Premium Member redirection Sounds like the cables co's are looking for any excuse to redirect attention to some other entity other than themselves



If netflix throttling is such an issue, netflix should turn it off, then customers can bitch directly at att/vzw when they get hit with huge overage charges.

Blockgorilla

Sarcasm is my native tongue

join:2010-02-11

Wichita, KS 12 recommendations Blockgorilla Member pot calling the kettle black?? I'm not seeing a negative here, at least on the side of Netflix. I'm sure the cell customers watching netflix didn't want 4k resolution so why would they want to max out their data consumption unnecessarily.



They could have been more "transparent" about it, but I look at it as another feature and not something to be upset about.

Morac

Cat god

join:2001-08-30

Riverside, NJ 10 recommendations Morac Member What does this have to do with Network Netutrality? Network neutrality is when the data provider throttles or restricts the content providers traffic. If the content provider throttles it's own traffic that isn't a network neutrality issue.



In other words if AT&T throttled Netflix then it would be a network neutrality issue.

Netflix throttling it's own traffic isn't a network neutrality issue.



Now it is kind of deceptive, but to Netflix's own customers (not AT&T/Verizon) since the customers weren't informed, but it doesn't violate net neutrality rules.

Red Hazard

Premium Member

join:2012-07-21

O Fallon, IL ·Charter

·VOIPO

7 recommendations Red Hazard Premium Member Streaming Speeds Over Cable Netflix has offered customers control of different streaming rates for connections via cable and other terrestrial ISPs for years. The capability is on the Netflix web site. The American Cable Association has nothing to complain about. Perhaps they are mentally challenged.

somms

join:2003-07-28

Centerville, UT 6 recommendations somms Member Why are the incumbents blaming Netflix for their lack of bandwidth and caps? I remember it was a big deal when Netflix dropped their Open Connect Appliance (OCA) server in XMission's downtown data center. This device allows Netflix to cache and quickly deliver Ultra HD 4K content to XMission's subscribers: » xmission.com/blog/2015/0 ··· scribers

Sarick

It's Only Logical

Premium Member

join:2003-06-03

USA 6 recommendations Sarick Premium Member What are they complaining about? Is it because they could've earned a profit on bandwidth hungry customers who could've had massive overage charges for using their full bandwidth stream for auto-HD?

wavelength

CyberSec Pro

join:2015-05-22

Raleigh, NC ·Google Fiber

Juniper SRX240

Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-PRO

4 recommendations wavelength Member The provider complaints on the basis of Net Neutrality fall flat... NN is about preventing preventing the providers between the end-users and the content providers from interfering with data in-flight either by changing packet priorities or throttle the flows.



NN has nothing to do with the source of the data manipulating the packets. In fact, Netflix was doing it automatically based on the rate at with the requesting device could receive packets and based on the capabilities of the device. For example, older Roku boxes do not get the higher bitrate streams.



The providers fail on this one.