[opendtv] High-def could choke Internet, ISPs fear
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient:;
- Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 00:22:10 -0400
High-def could choke Internet, ISPs fear
By Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer | May 14, 2006
NEW YORK --Every day, it seems, a new service pops up offering to
send you video over the Internet. "Desperate Housewives," Stephen
Colbert heckling the president, clips of bad dancers at wedding
parties: It's all there.
You may be up for it, but is the Internet?
The answer from the major Internet service providers, the telephone
and cable companies, is "no." Small clips are fine, but TV-quality
and especially high-definition programming could make the Internet
choke.
Most home Internet use is in brief bursts -- an e-mail here, a Web
page there. If people start watching streaming video like they watch
TV -- for hours at a time -- that puts a strain on the Internet that
it wasn't designed for, ISPs say, and beefing up the Internet's
capacity to prevent that will be expensive.
To offset that cost, ISPs want to start charging content providers to
ensure delivery of large video files, for example.
Internet activists and consumer groups are vehemently against those
plans, saying they amount to tilting the Internet's level playing
field, one of the things that encourages innovation. They want
legislation to guarantee a "neutral" Internet, but prospects appear
slim.
At the heart of the debate is a key question: How much would it
really cost the Internet carriers to provide a couple of hours of
prime-time TV over their networks every day?
The carriers are playing their cards fairly close to their chest, but
there are ways to get close to an answer.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/05/14/high_definition_video_could_choke_internet/
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