Time Warner Cable increases tiered bandwidth trial
Today brings news that Time Warner will be expanding its bandwidth capping trial to additional markets. Previously, Time Warner had tried this out in limited markets and I had hoped they'd realize bandwidth capping (or their specific approach) was a flawed approach. Apparently, they've decided to expand their trial to additional markets, which concerns me.
Personally, I think this is a bad decision on Time Warner's part to structure billing in such a way. Bandwidth caps by themselves are reasonable - but at a maximum of 40GB, I think you'll find many people will be sent into overages by downloading from iTunes, watching streaming video or playing their video games online. I'm one of the people that Time Warner fears - the person who has realized the extra $100 a month for cable service isn't worth it for me, considering I watch very little cable*; a la carte for cable doesn't exist, so I've pulled the plug. I now use over the air HD signals for the majority of my television, streaming online video from ABC and Discovery, paid downloads from iTunes and more on my television from Boxee. I still pay Time Warner for Internet access but for how much longer? If this comes to NYC, 40GB seems unreasonable in the age of HD and iTunes.
What will happen? Will I no longer be able to visit specific sites, or watch content online because of new pricing models? Will Time Warner succeed with this new revenue stream, or will increased competition from Verizon's fiber based FioS product cause them to innovate and give their customers more for their money? While cable companies say the latter, I fear the former, as while Verizon now has the right to provide Internet access to folks in NYC, I'm one of the many whose building is not wired to receive FioS and likely won't for the foreseeable future.
What does this mean in the larger context of things? Will content providers scale back their online offerings in favor of traditional television distribution? I certainly don't think television will ever go away, and if given a choice, I prefer to watch things on a nice 50" television - but that doesn't mean both distribution points can't coexist nicely. Products like ESPN360 are fantastic - but I can't watch it because its distribution is limited to specific ISPs, of which Time Warner doesn't belong. Will this business model gain traction now that ISPs are considering a "walled garden" approach to content? I certainly hope not!
As the Internet has matured and consumption of media has increased, it looks like things are coming to a head. Consumers want their content how they want it - but the service providers are looking to dictate how consumers receive it. This is fine, but I fear the backlash against providers will not hurt them, but rather the content providers, which in turn will hurt the consumer.
EDIT: As I'm about to publish this article, Silicon Alley Insider reports that Time Warner is also considering a 100GB plan for heavy downloaders. I'm cautiously optimistic, but suspect this will be very costly. Time will only tell.
* - My girlfriend on the other hand watches watched a lot of cable. All of the above may go out the window if she can’t watch “Project Runway” live. *sigh*
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