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Charter can charge Netflix and other online video streaming services for network interconnection despite a merger condition prohibiting the practice, a federal appeals court ruled today.
The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturns two merger conditions that the Obama administration imposed on Charter when it bought Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in 2016. The FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai did not defend the merits of the merger conditions in court, paving the way for today's ruling. The case was decided in a 2-1 vote by a panel of three DC Circuit judges.
[...] The case turned largely on the question of whether the consumers who sued had standing to challenge the conditions. Even if other factors besides interconnection contributed to the price increases, "the subscribers need not show that prohibiting paid interconnection agreements caused the entirety of the price increases, or even that it caused price increases of some specific amount," judges wrote. "For standing purposes, even a small financial injury is enough, and the consumers have shown a substantial likelihood that their bills are higher because of the prohibition on paid interconnection agreements."
[...] Charter told the FCC in a filing that it doesn't "currently" plan to impose data caps or charge video providers for interconnection, but the company wants the prohibitions lifted because they "put Charter at a competitive disadvantage" and "forc[e] Charter to run its network based on arbitrary merger conditions instead of market conditions." Charter's filing also claimed that broadband plans with data caps are "often popular" with consumers.
[...] Wood [VP of policy at consumer-advocacy group Free Press] pointed to a Free Press filing to the FCC that he said shows "Charter was delivering better value and getting better financial results for itself than any other big wired ISP. So the notion that either Charter or its customers have suffered from the conditions is a joke, as is any claim by the litigants that unconditioned mergers and monopolies are somehow better for people."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 18 2020, @02:18PM (3 children)
Netflix pays quite well for it's own end of the connection.
I should have to pay for my end of the connection. End of story.
It is not Netflix that is "using too much bandwidth", it is me who is using too much bandwidth.
Why should, let's say, and AT&T user have to pay higher Netflix bills to subsidize Charter?
This is just a sneaky way for Charter to charge more money, but slyly make someone else do the billing for it. And bill people who don't even use Charter.
Charter should simply charge it's own users enough so that Charter can build, operate and maintain its network. It's a time honored way of doing business.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2020, @06:13PM (2 children)
I don't know if you missed it, but the highest businessman position in the United States campaigned on the idea of making other people pay for things they want to build. It's the modern method of doing business.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 18 2020, @09:29PM (1 child)
I notice that he did not get them to pay for it. And his worshipers don't ever mention that fact.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 19 2020, @12:45AM
That just shows how great a businessman he is! Not only can he promise things, but then his fans are so stupid they ignore it when his promises turn out to be phony.
It's just like Apple: when their phone doesn't work right, they tell their customers "you're holding it wrong!" and the customers believe it!