The best argument yet for net neutrality comes from Major League Baseball

By John McDuling @jmcduling
July 28, 2014


Among the more than one million comments about net neutrality received by the US government this year was a submission by… Major League Baseball (MLB).

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently reviewing new rules that could allow internet providers to charge content companies for a more direct connection to customers.  Some big content distributors (most notably, Netflix) have come out hard against these so-called “fast lanes,” arguing that they effectively amount to an internet tax or toll.

But MLB has become an important player in streaming video. As I wrote last month, an offshoot of the league, MLB Advanced Media (or BAM as it’s known in the industry) is now America’s largest distributor of live video on broadband networks.

Earlier this month, BAM quietly submitted its own letter to the FCC, where it was equally scathing about internet fast lanes (hat tip to Multichannel’s John Eggerton). It’s a shame that BAM’s comments have been overlooked, because they amount to one of the most coherent arguments in favor of net neutrality we have come across. For example:

    Fast lanes would serve only one purpose: for Broadband ISPs to receive an economic  windfall. American consumers would be worse off as the costs of fast lanes are passed along to them in new fees or charges where there were none, or higher fees or charges where they existed.

And later:

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Continua qui: http://qz.com/241250/the-best-argument-yet-for-net-neutrality-comes-from-major-league-baseball/