NBC set to use P2P

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:59:50 -0500

NBC has officially exited Apple's iTunes and is readying to take its heavily criticized site, NBC Direct out of beta with a much improved interface and back end.

Most significant is the decision to go with New York based P2P network operator, Pando. The idea of a big content brand even touching a peer to peer technology would have been inconceivable a few years ago. P2P was of course the favored technology for sharing/stealing media--a sharing which the content owners vigorously litigated against.

But as demand for video surged and bandwidth availability and cost became problematic the idea of utilizing idle bandwidth has become more and more acceptable. P2P provider Pando is expected to get the nod to be part of the distribution platform NBC goes with when the site moves from its beta phase which will make NBC the first US broadcaster to adopt the technology.

Pando has been playing in the consumer P2P space for a couple of years now, navigating the often tricky bit torrent world which can see very different results depending on flavors of firewalls and country protocols. An indicator of just how much traffic is now moving in the P2P world is that Pando now moves 140 terabytes a day from the 14 million consumers apps which have been downloaded.

With NBC now off iTunes, NBC is under pressure to get NBC Direct up and running. The site has been pilloried for its obvious inadequacies.

Cable giant Comcast has struck recent consumer backlash and a legal writ after admitting it restricted P2P traffic as part of what they called general network management.

A recent study found P2P traffic represented more traffic on the Internet than all other applications combined and that 95 percent of all night time traffic in eastern Europe was coming from P2P networks.

For more:
- The business of video has a report

Related articles:
- NBC Direct a dud Report
- Akamie shows off its P2P solution Report

Network neutrality debate heats up

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:59:50 -0400

The U.S. Department of Justice created a stir in the Internet community when it came out against network neutrality last week. In an ex parte filling with the Federal Communications Commission, which has an open docket on the subject, the DOJ said current network neutrality proposals could "inefficiently skew investment, delay innovation and diminish consumer welfare."

Proponents of network neutrality legislation say it's necessary to keep the Internet functioning in the current egalitarian mode. Otherwise, startups like YouTube could never get a foothold because broadband providers would charge them out of business. Broadband providers, on the other hand, say they need to make speed tiers--charge web businesses based on traffic--because high-use sites are hogging bandwidth.

Two Washington lobbies, Public Knowledge and the Open Internet Coalition (of which PK is a member), are pushing for network neutrality legislation because they see speed tiering as a way for the big broadband gatekeepers to control what is and isn't available to web surfers. The DOJ said there is no evidence of that type of discrimination other than when a Madison River, N.C. ILEC blocked a VoIP competitor. There is, however, growing evidence broadband providers are tightening the spigot on subscribers, a practice aka "throttling." The Washington Post recently confirmed reports of throttling by Comcast, which cut off some heavy downloaders. Media pioneer Mark Cuban, who told Congress earlier this year words to the effect of, "it's the bandwidth stupid," would be grinning smugly if he weren't already disinterested in the Internet

For More:
- The DOJ filing is here (if downloading is coincidentally sluggish, try the associated press release here)
- Comcast says, "yeah, so what. We throttle" here
- Canadians are "caught in the throttle," too