Entries tagged with broadband - Channel 10

Packet Shaping: the new Net Neutrality Battleground

Jesse — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 15:44:00 GMT

If you thought that net neutrality was important yesterday, fire up your blogs because it's getting much more interesting. Daniel Berninger for GigaOm is demanding Packet Privacy and we think he's on to something. We've had a couple things to say about net neutrality before, but we hadn't connected this hot digipolitical issue with packets until this morning. Verizon has been exercising this sort of ability on their EV-DO service for some time, by disconnecting users who push their 'unlimited' service to the limit, or those who use VOIP applications. From Daniel's piece, "The telcos do not claim a right to listen in on calls to enforce the business versus consumer pricing policies. What makes it appropriate to use packet inspection to accomplish the same thing?"

BT Vision launches across UK, Powered by Microsoft TV

Paulfo — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 11:06:00 GMT

Will broadband Internet kill broadcast TV? This is a hot debate on the web and in the broadcast industry at the moment. Benjamin and I will be getting the skinny on the latest direct from Le Web 3 next week in Paris. It does look like we have moved a step closer to the demise of broadcast TV with the launch of BT Vision - BT's new digital TV service that delivers a hybrid of digital terrestrial television combined with value-added IP services over broadband. The Philips designed set-top box (the V-Box), powered by a Microsoft TV-enabled system-on-chip, offers advanced features including 80 hours of hard disk recording capability, two tuners, smart card reader, HDTV and numerous extension capabilities. Viewers can ‘time shift’ programmes at their convenience, pausing live shows or record them to watch at a later date.

The key thing is that this is a broadband connected device that can support a myriad of services which can be added to over time. Initially users will be able to pay per view from BT's 'extensive' video library covering films, music videos, TV shows and kids shows. A new 'catch-up' service to be available shortly is however the most interesting. The concept is that programmes from broadcasters (like Channel 4 (the first adopter), BBC and ITV) will be available on-demand from BT's library up to a week after the broadcast date, enabling users to have even more control over when they choose to watch a programme.

To use BT Vision you must already have BT Total Broadband install delivering a 2mb or more service. Apart from the broadband subscription and the initial installation charge for setting up your V-Box, BT Vision charges only for the library content you choose to watch, although there are month subscription packages you can sign up to if you like. BT are keen to emphasize that these are optional and you can effectively 'pay as you go' with no monthly fee commitment.

I'll be delivering a full demo video of the service for On10 shortly - so stay tuned!

Lawrence Lessig makes more noise about Net Neutrality

Jesse — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:54:00 GMT

Last week Tina wrote about Net Neutrality in the middle of a perfect storm of informed commentary. In an Op-Ed column for The New York Times, former Chairman of the FCC William Kennard said:

“Unfortunately, the current debate in Washington is over ‘net neutrality’ — that is, should network providers be able to charge some companies special fees for faster bandwidth. This is essentially a battle between the extremely wealthy (Google, Amazon and other high-tech giants, which oppose such a move) and the merely rich (the telephone and cable industries). In the past year, collectively they have spent $50 million on lobbying and advertising, effectively preventing Congress and the public from dealing with more pressing issues.”

Mr. Kennard goes on to discuss how a more important issue is the access to broadband in the United States needs to grow to include more of the nation. He also has some good ideas about revising the Universal Service Fund, a subsidy given to telephone companies for providing service in rural areas by taxing interstate phone calls.

While this is certainly an issue worth exploring, Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig wrote forcefully in opposition to Mr. Kennard’s characterization of the issue:

“It’s not a battle, he tells us, about whether competition in applications and content, ultimately driving penetration, will continue. It is instead a battle about whether the ‘extremely rich’ will prevail over the “merely rich.’…I thought we were angry because the “merely rich” had yet to provide broadband as broadly as in other comparable nations. And I thought we were fighting the efforts of the ‘merely rich’ to further reduce competition, either by buying up spectrum that would enable real wireless competition, or by getting state laws passed to make muni-competition illegal. I had thought these were important issues for the new economy — keeping the platform as competitive as possible, to keep prices and quality moving in the direction they move in the rest of the developed world.”

Professor Lessig also pointed out last week why, “Congress must keep broadband competition alive.” Had it not been for the existing state of net neutrality, YouTube might not have been able to grow into a company worth, in Google’s opinion, $1.65b):

“Had network owners been charging an access premium, investors in an upstart like YouTube would have had good reason to think twice. All taxes are a barrier, but this tax would be a particularly high barrier to innovation. It would hinder newcomers such as YouTube by favouring established companies such as Google and Yahoo.”

All in all some very good food for thought here. While it’s obviously an issue very close to our hearts here at 10, net neutrality is something that will probably become one of the most important political issues of the coming decades. The increasing degree to which data networks support our existence, as citizens, consumers, and carbon-based lifeforms, only makes this issue more critical.