[opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2017 09:43:20 -0400
On Sep 2, 2017, at 7:49 PM, Manfredi, Albert E <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Okay, so it's between the AT&T wireless network and DirecTV Now. It used to
be, originally, that wireless broadband providers were excluded from a net
neutrality mandate. No longer.
Correct. Theya re subject to the same Net Neutrality rules as fixed roadband
under the Title II regime. The rules do not prohibit Zero Rating, but when they
were adopted in 2015 the FCC said it would review Zero Rating issues on a
case-by-case basis.
This is why the Wheeler FCC sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and others in
December of last year, asking the companies to justify Zero Rating and explain
why it does NOT violate the net neutrality rules.
Here is some info from an article covering the FCC action:
https://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-att-verizon-zero-rating-directv-now-go90-net-neutrality/
Since September, AT&T has let its wireless customers stream its DirecTV video
service over the AT&T wireless network without counting that data against
their monthly data caps. This week AT&T made the $35 a month streaming
service available to all wireless customers. The FCC also sent a letter to
Verizon asking it questions about a similar offer where Verizon lets
customers stream its Go90 video service and doesn't charge for data usage.
Both AT&T and Verizon say their programs, which charge video providers
instead of customers the cost of streaming the data, are open to any video
company willing to pay the cost of customer data. But the FCC says it's
concerned AT&T and Verizon still have a cost advantage over rivals, since
they provide the streaming service and own the networks.
And this is from an AT&T letter in response to the FCC letter:
According to Quinn, that’s also off-base. AT&T makes its sponsored-data
program available to all content providers on the same terms and conditions
as it does for DirecTV, he maintained. The rates the telco offers to third
parties are “as low as the market-based rates AT&T currently offers even to
wireless resellers who commit to significant purchase volumes,” the AT&T exec
wrote. In fact, Quinn claimed, AT&T has gone beyond the nondiscrimination
requirements traditional law would require by allowing content providers to
specify how much data they want to sponsor and charging them “the same low
per-gigabyte rate regardless whether they are big or small or how much data
they purchase.”
With the change of administrations, the FCC appears to have dropped the issue,
focusing instead on repealing the rules in question.
So, same question remains. Is this zero rating of DirecTV Now exclusive to
DirecTV Now? As you must know, whether or not the same company owns both
makes no difference at all, in these matters. And the other point remains
too, that if these zero rating agreements are non-exclusive, then the special
interests would, you know, lose interest.
No it is not exclusive to DirecTV Now. AT&T is now offering Zero Rating for
various HBO streaming services (note that AT&T is trying to buy Time Warner).
It also has several other rather obscure services that have signed up for their
sponsored data program.
T-Mobile Zero Rates a large number of streaming audio services,
Proving what, exactly?
That this issue is complex and may involve a range of potential
implementations. In this case the streaming music services are not paying for
Zero Rating; T-Mobile has simply made the decision to Zero Rate all of these
services as a promotional tool to help attract subscribers.
This is why a net neutrality mandate is necessary. Because otherwise, the
broadband providers play favorites. As if your electric utility were to say,
if you buy brand X appliances, we won't charge you for the electricity used
for that appliance. Same old anti-competitive behavior that you seem unable
to grasp.
Electricity providers already do this. iI received a substantial rebate on the
cost of upgrading my air conditioning/heating system from our local electric
utility, GRU. This rebate is provided to qualified installers who have signed
up for the program (i.e. the retailers of specific brands of AC equipment).
They also offer rebates for some forms of insulation, for installing natural
gas appliances (in lieu of electric), and feed in tariffs for solar electric
installations.
This is the same old pro competitive behavior you dislike. In this case there
may be an economic benefit to the utility in terms of delaying the need for
increased power generation. Then again, as with the solar feed-in tariffs it
was a huge government give-away to those who had the capital resources to
install qualifying solar systems. GRU pays a premium for the solar power that
feeds into the system, providing an ongoing rebate to those who qualified for
the program (i.e. They get about 5 cents per kilowatt hour more for the power
they generate than the power they pay for).
Thank You. So why do you continue to push for intrusive FCC regulation
instead of promoting competition?
Like I just said, you seem unable to grasp what anti-competitive behavior is.
I know exactly what anti-competitive behavior is Bert. You, on the other hand,
cannot cite a single example of the anti-competitive behavior the Net
Neutrality rules are intended to prevent.
The move to heavy handed regulation of ISPs is based entirely on the FEAR of
anti-competitive behavior. The reality is that such behavior has NEVER
happened, and if it did there are more than adequate laws in place to deal with
any anti-competitive behavior.
You seem unable to understand that back in 1906, telephone service had the
potential for being far, far less useful than it turned out to be, for just
the reasons you seem to be promoting here. I think this is caused by your
fondness for walled garden MVPDs.
I understand exactly what happened a century ago Bert. In some ways it is
little different than the Net Neutrality issue. The politicians used the FEAR
of anti-competitive behavior to justify the regulation of natural monopolies,
and later the creation of the FCC, which was SUPPOSED to protect "the public
interest," but in reality has protected these regulated monopolies. The net
result was nearly a century of monopoly based pricing for telephone service,
significant delays in the deployment of new technologies, and lucrative careers
for the lawyers and lobbyists who manipulate the FCC.
The walled garden MVPD canard is typical for you - these walls are crumbling
thanks to competition from the Internet. You could not possibly understand
this, as you are comfortable consuming the table scraps that are still offered
by "free" ad saturated TV services.
The neutral utility medium, whether it's a public road, the US Postal
Service, water and sewer service, the electric utility, the telephone
network, or the Internet broadband provider, is not supposed to collude with
businesses operating on that medium. It's supposed to be an even playing
field.
And the regulators are not supposed to collide with the rights of the ISPs to
compete with businesses operating via the Internet. But that is exactly what
the FCC did. They tilted the playing field, as they have done for a century to
favor the industries they regulate.
It was the FCC that blocked the ability of cable systems to compete with
broadcasters for more than two decades.
The FCC is tasked to ensure this, for telecom services, and has been, for its
ENTIRE EXISTENCE.
Yup. Then Congress told them VERY SPECIFICALLY in 1996 to keep their hands off
the Internet. By 2005, however, the FCC started doing what Congress prohibited:
https://cei.org/sites/default/files/Ryan%20Radia%20and%20Jessica%20Melugin%20-%20A%20Net%20Neutrality%20Primer.pdf
In 2005, the five-member FCC voted unanimously to adopt an “Internet Policy
Statement” that endorsed four principles, affirming that consumers are
entitled to:
“[A]ccess the lawful Internet content of their choice;”
“[R]un applications and use services of their choice;”
“[C]onnect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network;” and
Enjoy “competition among network providers, application and service providers,
and content providers.”11
Please note that this policy statement did not discriminate against ISPs as is
the case today.
ESPN is guilty of nothing. They are merely exploiting a monopoly marketplace,
as any business does, given half a chance.
No Bert. The vast majority of businesses DO NOT exploit a monopoly marketplace
for a simple reason:
They must deal with real competition. Monopolies are illegal Bert, and there
are plenty of laws to protect the public from monopoly business practices. But
these laws are rendered meaningless when the politicians exempt a business.
This is exactly what has happened with professional sports. It is exactly what
has happened with broadcast television, which has now consolidated into 6 mega
corporations that control almost everything we watch.
It was these six congloms that drove up the cost of MVPD delivered TV
entertainment to get around the (supposed) Congressional attempt to regulate
the cable industry. In reality the 1992 act gave the broadcasters and Hollywood
the ability to take over the MVPD systems and drive prices up.
But, as long as the monopoly was an unessential entertainment network, what
the heck, the FCC didn't need to obsess.
That is because the Communications Act did not provide the FCC with the
authority to regulate these systems. So they just used "in the public interest"
to prevent them from competiting with broadcasters for nearly three decades,
and then gave broadcasters preferred placement and a huge chunk of the capacity
of these systems in the analog era. Then Congress defined the role of the FCC
to regulate cable systems and open up the market for Set Top Boxes, which the
FCC STILL has not done.
Craig, and like-minded, benefitted from this arrangement, having their sports
addiction subsidized very heavily, by those who couldn't care less about
grown men who toss spheres. With the Internet, aka an advanced telecom
service, instead, THE FCC MUST OBSESS. It is in their charter. The FCC must
not allow this same funny business to happen, on the telecom networks.
It has already happened.
The same bundles are appearing on YOUR superior medium Bert
Nothing has changed.
Oh really? So can you point to something I'm paying for that I don't want?
No. To the best of my knowledge you do not pay for any TV content, although
your wife has Amazon Prime, which provides access to some paid content.
You have never paid for MVPD service and you choose the limit the content you
watch via the internet to those services that do not require a subscription.
This does not change the fact that the majority of U.S. Homes subscribe to both
a (V)MVPD bundle and at least one SVOD service.
Actually Tim Wu invented the Net Neutrality meme,
Bull crap.
Deleted
Let me try this again: You made only one cogent comment, in the entire net
neutrality topic. That was when you said that, had Internet access been up to
the cable companies, instead of being up to the telcos, the Internet would
have been walled up. Much like AOL and Compuserve were.
Never said that. I said that the cable companies TRIED to develop walled in
"Internet like" services, but these systems failed BECAUSE of the Internet.
Then, in a show of completely illogical thinking, you said that this would
have been "only temporary." Why, Craig? What neutral Internet model would the
general public, like you, have had? None. Net neutrality ONLY exists, for
Internet service, thanks to Title II. NOTHING ELSE.
The neutral Internet model that has existed since President Clinton opened the
Internet to commercial development, setting of decades of massive investment in
a new communications medium freed from the heavy handed regulation of the FCC.
Regards
Craig
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- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p - Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Manfredi, Albert E
- » [opendtv] Re: Verizon to start throttling all smartphone videos to 480p or 720p- Craig Birkmaier