“A battle is brewing between big tech companies and broadband providers over how to deliver your favorite websites and media to your home,” James O’Toole reports for CNNMoney. “Fed up with broadband providers’ slow Internet speeds, some Silicon Valley giants are taking matters into their own hands.”
“Google is taking on the Internet service providers at their own game, announcing plans last month to expand its ultra-high-speed Internet network, Google Fiber,” O’Toole reports. “Netflix, meanwhile, has invested in its own infrastructure for content delivery and has reluctantly paid for direct connections with ISPs… Apple, for its part, is looking to set up a streaming television service that would “get special treatment on Comcast’s cables to ensure it bypasses congestion on the Web,” The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.”
“Since there’s little competition in the broadband industry, some industry experts believe that there’s little incentive for broadband providers to dramatically beef up their bandwidth and drastically improve their infrastructure to adequately provide for online video demands,” O’Toole reports. “‘These guys are all in harvesting mode — they’ve made their investments and they’re simply reaping the rewards,’ said Susan Crawford, a professor at Cardozo Law School. Silicon Valley, which relies on the Internet as a portal to its customers, is unsatisfied.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related article:
Apple in talks with Comcast about streaming-TV service; companies discussing deal to bypass web congestion – March 24, 2014
