Be Very Afraid: The Cable-ization of Online Life Is Upon Us

[Commentary] Just imagine trying to run a business that is utterly dependent on a single delivery network — a gatekeeper — that can make up the rules on the fly and knows you have nowhere else to go. To get the predictability you need to stay solvent, you’ll be told to pay a “first class” premium to reach your customers. From your perspective, the whole situation will feel like you’re being shaken down: It’s arbitrary, unfair, and coercive. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is feeling just this way. He’s trying to get Americans to care about Comcast’s power to exempt “first class” streaming video delivered to Xboxes from its monthly internet usage caps. Comcast here is playing the role of the gate agent: Video that Comcast directs down particular channels to particular devices won’t trigger the cap. So customers who watch Comcast’s stuff won’t have to worry about losing internet access — something they need to send e-mail and otherwise participate in 21st-century life — by blowing by the cap. Same pipe, same function, same physical connection to your home, different treatment. Although Comcast is doing its best to drag this conflict down into the weeds of network architecture technicalities, the big picture is clear: This is the leading edge of the cable-ization of online life.