Content Providers Square Off Against Phone, Cable Companies

CONTENT PROVIDERS SQUARE OFF AGAINST PHONE, CABLE COMPANIES
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Ira Teinowitz ]
The potential winners if tiered Internet becomes a reality: the nation's big phone and cable companies, as well as the marketing partners who can afford the tolls for the access required to provide high-speed video and audio. The losers: consumers, who may have fewer choices and could see prices rise for Internet downloads; content providers that don't hook up with the phone or cable companies; content providers that compete with phone or cable companies; and the raft of small businesses and consumers who won't be able to compete, period. If a tiered Internet were put in place -- still an if, now that the House Judiciary Committee has sent its own legislation guaranteeing Net neutrality to the floor and the Senate Commerce Committee is considering an amendment imposing net neutrality -- the major content providers could afford to pay to play, but the ramifications would be felt by both consumers and marketers. It could change which sites consumers use to download music and videos, search the Web and even book travel reservations. It could force marketers and media companies to take telephone companies and cable providers as new partners. Finally, it could raise Internet ad prices either indirectly, as content providers look to lessen the impact of the new tolls, or directly, as marketers are required to pay to use the better pipes to deliver their advertising. It also could concentrate Web users (and therefore ad dollars) with those providers willing and able to pay the fees. Sound familiar? Glenn Reynolds, a law professor and a former communications lawyer, warned that tiered service would "likely result in an Internet that looks more like cable TV than the Internet." Oddly, while some big marketers are raising the alarm about Net neutrality, media companies have been silent. Disney/ABC, NBC and CBS all declined requests for comment on Net neutrality. "Things in Washington tend to get compartmentalized," said Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, a group organizing for Net neutrality. "A lot of guys aren't focusing on this as an issue that could drastically affect their businesses."
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