ISPs have a choice: they can offer unlimited bandwidth including Netflix, or they can charge by the gigabyte. The government, long looking for a way to 'regulate' the internet, glommed onto this problem so they can offer a 'solution.'
Netflix may push a lot of data, but people have paid ISPs to receive that data. Where that data comes from is largely irrelevant, total bandwidth matters. ISPs are trying to double charge for one service rendered.
Third option: they can offer fixed bandwidth (know the definition). Xmbps is there when you need it, no “up to” or “cap” BS.
They can also agree to alternative hosting methods to mitigate delivery distance. Rather than deliver to customers from a single central server farm, chewing up “trunk” space, Netflix has offered to provide localized boxes containing their entire service. The entire Netflix library can fit in 100TB, size of a large shoebox, and costing a relatively paltry amount (about $10,000); such boxes can be placed at a major hub in every major city, relieving much load on major infrastructure. ISPs are declining the offering, even when at no cost and no reduction in revenue.
The problem is the ISPs know what the data is, and its value relative to other customers, and views squeezing Netflix & others as free money.
Alas, the Leftist implementation of “net neutrality” is not simply “charge & provide honest bandwidth regardless of customer & content” (as it should be), it’s “deep government regulation making things even more complex & costly”.