Is Netflix’s place in the slow lane?

[Commentary] The recent interest in network neutrality has been spurred on by Netflix’s fight with Comcast for a fast lane. Should Netflix itself have a fast lane?

Why does Netflix exist only as a streaming format instead of with a local storage option? And why is it shelling out money for what seems to be an inefficient solution? If I had to guess it is because (a) consumers don’t have the alternative option and (b) storage rights cannot be easily negotiated with video copyright holders because they fear that storage leads to piracy while streaming is somehow safer. That last one has worked out so well since users don’t know how to share passwords!

But I think that streaming video is a puzzle. And Net Neutrality advocates should be concerned about this. If network congestion is a real thing -- and I suspect it is -- then streaming video (in all its forms) is currently the culprit.

The concern is that congestion is itself causing a barrier to start-ups who may have a legitimate reason for real-time bandwidth. We need to think creatively about empowering consumers to put Netflix and others in their right place in the queue. At the moment, that market force does not seem to be present.