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Comcast Won’t Give New Speed Boost to Internet Users Who Don’t Buy TV Service

posted by janrinok on Tuesday May 01 2018, @08:11PM   
from the free-providing-you-pay-more dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4408

Comcast keeps losing TV subscribers, but it has a new way to fight cord cutting.

As streaming video continues to chip away at cable TV subscriber numbers, Comcast is making some of its Internet speed increases available only to customers that pay for both Internet and video service.

Last week, Comcast announced speed increases for customers in Houston and the Oregon/SW Washington areas. The announcement headlines were "Comcast increases Internet speeds for some video customers."

Customers with 60Mbps Internet download speeds are being upped to 150Mbps; 150Mbps subscribers are going to 250Mbps; and 250Mbps subscribers are getting a raise to 400Mbps or 1Gbps.

Comcast says speed increases will kick in automatically without raising the customers' monthly bills—but only if they subscribe to certain bundles that include both Internet and TV service.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/comcast-wont-give-new-speed-boost-to-internet-users-who-dont-buy-tv-service/

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Original Submission

• Clever Clever (Score: 3, Insightful) by darkfeline on Tuesday May 01 2018, @09:50PM (1 child)

  by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday May 01 2018, @09:50PM (#674325) Homepage

  I'll admit that I didn't think of this possibility. I thought ISPs were going to take advantage of the repeal of net neutrality to prioritize their own streaming services to make up for the decline of TV subscriptions.

  But this is cutting the Gordian knot. Are TV subscriptions dropping because users are moving to Internet video streaming services? How will we maintain our TV subscription profits? Why not just throttle Internet service so video streaming is impossible unless users pay for the TV subscription? Fucking genius.

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• Re:Clever (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @11:06PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @11:06PM (#674351)

  I thought ISPs were going to take advantage of the repeal of net neutrality to prioritize their own streaming services to make up for the decline of TV subscriptions.

  They can't do that yet, as the Net Neutrality is still in effect: [techdirt.com]

  Before net neutrality gets formally repealed and flimsy replacement policies take effect, the FCC will wait for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to review the much weaker transparency rule under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Once OMB signs off, the FCC will publish a second notice in the Federal Register announcing when everything goes into effect.

  That's expected sometime in the next month or two, but it hasn't happened yet, meaning that net neutrality rules remain on the books, for now. [Consumer advocate Harold] Feld, meanwhile, notes this odd bureaucratic delay is not normal, but appears to be very much by design

  Basically, the "official date" of April 23 has passed, but the FCC has to do some more paperwork before the repeal actually takes effect -- and they're dragging their feet to give the lobbyists time to bribe their way out of the current pro-NN movement.

  Parent