Posted on 04/25/2014 6:43:52 AM PDT by Dallas59
As the person at Netflix responsible for content delivery, I spend a lot of time thinking about Netflix’s Open Connect CDN and its interconnection with ISPs. We are proud of the performance we’ve achieved through our hundreds of Open Connect partners around the globe.
In fact, Netflix has a mutually beneficial relationship with nearly every ISP in every market where we provide service. But this is less the case for the largest ISP in the U.S., Comcast, which is trying to become even larger by acquiring Time Warner Cable.
Netflix agreed to pay Comcast for direct interconnection to reverse an unacceptable decline in our members’ video experience on the Comcast network. These members were experiencing poor streaming quality because Comcast allowed its links to Internet transit providers like Level3, XO, Cogent and Tata to clog up, slowing delivery of movies and TV shows to Netflix users.
For a content company such as Netflix, paying an ISP like Comcast for interconnection is not the same as paying for Internet transit. Transit networks like Level3, XO, Cogent and Tata perform two important services: (1) they carry traffic over long distances and (2) they provide access to every network on the global Internet. When Netflix connects directly to the Comcast network, Comcast is not providing either of the services typically provided by transit networks.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.netflix.com ...
Comcast wants a cut of the action. It’s a racket.
In other words, Netflix didn't know what they were buying from Comcast, and they now expect Comcast to monitor and provide preferential treatment to Netflix traffic, even if that traffic only flows through Comcast as a reseller. Since 1/3 of all Internet traffic is Netflix content, everyone (else) benefits at Comcast's expense.
Seems like comcast has got the road greased for them - first they convinced the gubbermint to allow them to acquire TW and now they’ve got the FCC in their pocket. Definitely getting some help from Washington these days.
For a content company like Netflix, their content is not impressive. Their movie selection downright sucks. And somebody needs to explain to Netflix what a “New Release” is. They’ve been streaming the entire series of Breaking Bad since November. I saw Breaking Bad under New Releases yesterday, what the hell is that about?
I’m getting a lot better content out of Hulu. At my house, Netflix has one foot out the door and the other foot on a banana peel.
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