Archive for September 6th, 2006

Net Neutrality and the CBC

The CBC recently released its submission to the CRTC as part of the examination of the future of broadcast in Canada.  The submission interestingly raises network neutrality concerns, though it does not use that specific term.  Rather, as part of a discussion on Internet video at page 19, the CBC says:

The business case analysis for Internet video is complicated by the fact that suppliers of broadband connections may also have incentives to control the bandwidth available for Internet video.  Canadian cable companies engage in "bandwidth shaping" which allocates different levels of transmission capacity to different services according to the operational preferences of the cable company.  This type of bandwidth shaping can ensure efficient use of transmission capacity.  It can also ensure that Internet video by third parties does not become a threat to the business of the cable company, whether it be the delivery of traditional television programming to cable  subscribers, VOD or the distribution of cable company-owned Internet video services.   In light of this complex mix of issues, it remains unclear whether Internet video will become a primary means of distributing video content on a commercial basis. 

This is network neutrality in action.

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September 6, 2006 5 comments News