“Verizon Communications Inc on Thursday demanded that Netflix Inc immediately stop displaying messages to customers that place blame on Verizon’s broadband service for slow delivery of Netflix TV shows and movies,” Lisa Richwine and Marina Lopes report for Reuters.
“The letter is the latest sign of tension between content providers like Netflix and Internet service providers over who should pay the price for companies that stream heavy traffic online,” Richwine and Lopes report. “In a cease-and-desist letter sent to Netflix, Verizon also asked the video streaming service to provide information including a list of customers on the Verizon network to whom Netflix delivered the notices, or face legal action. ‘Failure to provide this information may lead us to pursue legal remedies,’ Verizon general counsel Randal Milch said in a letter to Netflix general counsel David Hyman.”
“In mid-May, Netflix started a test of messages displayed on the screen for some customers when a video is buffering. The messages say that there is congestion on the network of Verizon or another Internet service provider,” Richwine and Lopes report. “Netflix said on Thursday the test is continuing and meant to provide customers more information about their service, similar to a speed index that Netflix has published for months with a ranking of Internet service providers. ‘This is about consumers not getting what they paid for from their broadband provider,'” Netflix spokesman Jonathan Friedland said. ‘We are trying to provide more transparency, just like we do with the ISP Speed Index, and Verizon is trying to shut down that discussion.'”
“In April, Netflix said it reluctantly signed a deal to pay fees to Verizon to bypass those middlemen and deliver content directly to the company, ensuring faster speeds,” Richwine and Lopes report. “But Verizon is still working to implement the needed architecture and expects to finish improvements by the end of 2014.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
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