5 Ways The Comcast-Time Warner Cable Deal Could Ruin TV and The Internet
huffingtonpost.com / 2-13-14
1. The End Of Unlimited Data At Home
As Gigaom notes, Time Warner Cable broadband customers don't have monthly data caps -- they can stream as much video, download as much content and surf the web as much as they like without worrying about going over any sort of monthly allotment. Comcast, however, is testing out data caps in cities in at least six states.
Customers in these areas who pay for Comcast's Xfinity service are limited to 300 gigabytes of data per month, meaning they can only use 300 GB worth of Netflix, YouTube, Facebook and iTunes. For many people, that's enough. But considering that an hour of HD video on Netflix uses about 2.8 GB, or an Xbox One game download can be a whopping 44GB, the allotment can go pretty quickly for some people. If they go over that, they are charged a fee of $10 for every 50 gigabytes used. With control of even more markets through the Time Warner Cable acquisition, data caps for Time Warner Cable customers could be on the horizon.
"The era of abundance in the broadband market is over," said Derek Turner, the research director for Free Press, a nonpartisan advocacy group. "The era of artificial scarcity is now upon us."
2. Slower Netflix
3. Fewer Good Choices On Netflix, Amazon and Hulu
4. Even Less Choice In Cable Providers
5. Higher Prices
FULL POST AT LINK: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/comcast-time-warner-deal_n_4783598.html