Netflix, Comcast put final nail in Net Neutrality's coffin

[Commentary] The network-sharing agreement between Comcast and Netflix has likely buried the idea that providers of high-speed Internet connections into US homes have to take into account anything but market forces when setting prices for their service. In other words, network neutrality is dead. Now that the largest cable provider, Comcast, and perhaps the largest user of consumer bandwidth in Netflix have struck a deal, any legislation or executive action to authorize new federal telecom rules will have very little momentum in Washington.

The Comcast-Netflix agreement marks the end of the concept of an open or free Internet and presages a more-competitive landscape for digital entertainment and information. Look for more mergers and acquisitions such as Comcast's proposed offer for Time Warner Cable. Any cable provider, phone company, wireless operator or satellite provider owns a network that can now be used to provide digital entertainment to consumers in a less-regulated market. Investment usually follows such deregulation, so it's easy to see more deals that will tie up wireless and satellite providers, or tech and telecom firms and assets. Deregulated markets usually lead to lower prices in the long term, but only where there is full-blown market-based competition. And since the U.S. Internet services market is built on top of the US telecom infrastructure, more than half the country has access to either high-speed cable Internet or phone-based DSL service, but not both.