All Things Net Neutrality

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Divide and Conquer

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Received More Than $100,000 from Comcast Before Boosting Merger

Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago received numerous campaign contributions from Comcast executives before officially supporting its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable.

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) is bragging of widespread support for its proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE:TWC), but the victory chant is drowning out an important detail: Some of that support from public officials has followed big campaign contributions from Comcast executives.

Also, if I'm not mistaken Comcast's possible throttling of Netflix is actually being officially questioned by FCC officials though it still seems to be in the kid gloves phase. The following is a very detailed article that dates back to the start of Netflix's streaming service and their long standing feud with Comcast.

DailyTech - Comcast Forced Fees by Reducing Netflix to "VHS-Like Quality"

December 2013 and January 2014, however, congestion on routes into
Comcast's network reached a critical threshold and Comcast's and Netflix's mutual customers were significantly harmed. Comcast subscribers went from viewing Netflix content at 720p on average (i.e., HD quality) to viewing content at nearly VHS quality. For many subscribers, the bitrate was so poor that Netflix's streaming video service became unusable.

The degraded viewing quality for Comcast subscribers also resulted in a sharp increase in calls to Netflix customer support. Those calls made clear that Comcast was well aware of the degradation of Netflix traffic and was directing its subscribers to contact Netflix. The fact that the height of the congestion occurred in December and January is significant. December is one of Netflix's busiest times because members spend more time at home over the holidays and therefore request more streaming video from Netflix and other OVDs. It became clear that Comcast would continue to allow congestion across its network to negatively affect its subscribers' online video streaming experience.