U.S. Probes Cable for Limits on Net Video

[onehandle]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video, according to people familiar with the matter.

Justice Department officials have spoken to several online video providers, including Netflix Inc. NFLX +0.75% and Hulu LLC, those people said. Investigators have also questioned Comcast Corp., CMCSA -0.69% Time Warner Cable Inc. TWC -0.74% and other cable companies about issues such as setting data caps, limits to the amount of data a subscriber can download each month, these people said.

Representatives of all those companies and the Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation.

Cable companies provide both television channels and high-speed Internet access for many consumers in the U.S. With broadband Internet, consumers can watch individual programs or channels through online video services like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon, bypassing the cable company's traditional bundles of channels.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303444204577462951166384624.html

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Fantastic. Crush them.

[cstanleytech]

1. Oh please, cable companies would never ever

do something that would harm a potential competitor and we should trust them.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Just Us Dept caught between 2 corporations..who will they choose..who indeed?

Very fascinating.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday suggested he had sympathy for those who want to "cut the cord" rather than paying for cable channels they don't watch. At a Senate hearing, Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.) said cable bills are "out of control" and consumers want to watch TV and movies online. Mr. Holder responded, "I would be one of those consumers."

Thanks for the thread, onehandle.

[freshwest]

4. Comcast has just sent me a list of changes. Which don't appear unrelated to my service.

There are changes in their pricing starting July 1st. I never went for their promoted 'On Demand' services, which is likely a pay-per-view. As I fall in the category of 'minimum term agreement associated with a specific rate' it says there will be no increase. The cost of packages are astounding. One is over $247 a month.

I'd hate for hulu to be affected by this, they make a lot of content available at normal speed. Comcast will integrate with IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) to keep us connected, cutting over already:

http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/about-ipv6/

Let these giants go at each other, LOL.