Currently ISP’s treat information passed over the net equally; regardless of the source of the content, or where it is destined, but almost 90% of UK fixed line broadband and mobile carriers, including the likes of BSkyB, BT, Everything Everywhere (formerly Orange and T-Mobile), TalkTalk, 3, Virgin Media and Vodafone are proposing an alternative approach to the provision of internet services, advancing the idea of “two tier” connection speeds.

Founder of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee claims that the proposals advanced by ISP’s go against the principals of the Internet; which was intended to provide information to everyone without discrimination.  The idea being that no restrictions are posed by ISP’s or government bodies on subject matter and modes of communication; essentially you pay a fee for fixed line broadband, and you access whatever content you wish, whenever you want it.

According to the Guardian, at a ‘round-table’ event hosted in Westminster earlier this month, attended by Ed Vaizey (the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries), Berners-Lee advanced his concerns about the threats posed to existing guidelines for net neutrality:

“Every customer should be able to access every service, and every service should be able to access every customer … The web has grown so fast precisely because we have had two independent markets, one for connectivity, and the other for content and applications”.

In conjunction with Berners-Lee, content providers such as the BBC, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Skype are not happy with the direction the debate is going, and feel that threats posed by ISP’s for the implementation of two-tier connection speeds is gaining momentum, with a lack of opposition, and an unwillingness of groups other than content providers, to attempt to ban the proposal.

At the event in Westminster, representatives of Skype voiced their concerns that with the exception of the 3 network, other providers restrict Skype’s services, due to the threat they pose to their call revenues.  If this is the case, carriers are already breaching the principles of net neutrality.  Here lies the crux of the issue: net neutrality is upheld by the ethics of those who implemented the internet and the web; the provision of services has drastically changed since it’s inception with commercial funding in the 1980’s; and while there is no central governance in it’s access or usage policies, no one seems keen to break the deadlock between the ISP’s and content providers and decisively resolve this debate.

ISP’s have long tried to implement a system allowing them to charge content providers such as the BBC, or their customers, for the data they transfer using services such as iPlayer.  ISP’s have to pay to carry the data, and it is for this reason that they have put forward their proposals to prioritise traffic, with the caveat that they would be transparent about the changes to their services and how it would affect the customer.

Content providers such as You Tube and the BBC continue to resist these proposals, claiming that they bring customers to the door of the ISP with the information they provide.  Without them, the ISP has nothing to offer their customers.  The Consumers Association argues that because users are often tied into long term contracts, if a change was made to an ISP’s traffic management policies, they may have little opportunity to change provider and move to an alternative.

If the ISP’s proposals are accepted, it could change the way content is delivered via the internet, across the UK.

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Executives from Warner Brothers are anticipating that the new partnership will generate a fresh revenue stream for the company, by making their films more accessible for people globally. The deal will also open up the Hollywood market to new customers, by providing films in an accessible platform. Initially, the service will be launched across America, but if the pilot scheme proves to be successful with users it is intended to be rolled out globally.

The new service will operate through the use of Facebook credits, which will be charging under two pounds for access to each film. Customers who download films will then be able to watch them within two days, at which point their access will be moved. Initially the first film to be used for the pilot will be Batman: Dark Knight, which was released in 2008. Further movies will follow after Batman has been piloted, although the titles which will be next made available have not yet been released.

Industry critics seem to be positive about the new partnership, suggesting that if it is successful then film studios from across the globe will consider launching the service. The initiative is a natural first step for filmmakers looking to make their products more accessible, as more more people have access to fast broadband and are becoming comfortable with viewing content over the Internet.

However, there are concerns that the new development may have a similar impact upon the film industry to that which was suffered through the music business, as record labels have experienced significant falls in profit as a result of online piracy. According to critics from companies are already at risk of losing revenue as result of similar issues and it is thought that making films available online will serve to compound the issue, unless there are strict regulations around security of downloads.

The move by Warner Brothers will offer Internet users are convenient and quick way of getting hold of their favourite films, reaching 500 million people globally. Teaming up with Facebook is a savvy move as it reaches a huge global audience, which other film subscription services have not yet managed to supply services to.

A spokesperson from Warner Brothers has commented: “Facebook has become a destination for hundreds of millions of people. Making our films available through Facebook is a extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world’s largest social network”.

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Originally, a number of test areas were identified in order to undertake piloting of the service, which is aimed towards rolling out the latest generation of broadband to more remote and rural areas across the UK. However, the government are yet to select their preferred service providers from technology companies to undertake this pilot exercise.

Companies have been asked to submit their proposals and bids for the scheme, which will be paying out an additional fifty million pounds from the government on top of what has already been invested in the proposition. The aim is that, by 2015, the UK will have one of the fastest broadband services in Europe. The fifty million pound budget will be split across local authorities in order to enable them to facilitate the rolling out of the scheme.

George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer has commented: “This is very much a locally-driven process and we encourage bids from all local people with plans for improving broadband in their local area.” The plans for the access to broadband will offer an additional eight hundred thousand homes to benefit from the new service.

Sebastien Lahtinen, from ThinkBroadband has commented: “This crucial step will be welcomed by those living in the ‘final third’, the most remote areas of the UK which currently suffer from a lack of decent broadband services. However, many in those areas will continue to be frustrated that it’s going to take years to roll out across the entire country.”

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YouTube will be providing the service which “brings together a library of film ranging from past mainstream hits to cult classics and beyond, and YouTube hopes the Movies section will grow in time”, they have announced. The films which will be made available to customers include  The Addiction, which was nominated for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival, Dark Side Of The Sun, starring Brad Pitt and Death Train, starring Pierce Brosnan.

In addition, titles will also include cult classics such as Cathy Come Home, the film that led to the founding of homelessness charity Shelter, Bollywood hits. YouTube also says it will offer cult classics, such as The Clan Of The Cave Bear (Daryl Hannah as a Neanderthal) and hidden gems like Loved (Sean Penn), a drama about physics in Oxford.

The company has gone in to partnership with www.blinkbox.com, a UK online film and TV aggregator. The site will be providing approximately 165 films as part of their new portfolio. The head of Video Partnerships for YouTube commented: This is one of many efforts to ensure that people can find all the different kinds of video they want to see, from bedroom vlogs and citizen journalism reports to full-length films and TV shows. This is a first step.”

YouTube also provides a ‘catch up’ service which enables people to view full-length television programmes such as Peep Show, The Inbetweeners, and Fifth Gear from channel five and others.

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Viewers were able to follow the game over the BBC’s online live stream, and the facility led to a peak number of viewers, at 800,000 at one single time. This in itself is an all-time high for concurrent streams, even though figures for overall access to the service will be even higher, as unique user access is not calculated.

Faith in ITV’s ability to provide reliable viewing access for the World Cup has been criticized recently, following the channel’s poor performance during the opening game between South Africa and Mexico. The ITV servers were unable to handle the high demand for the game online. The BBC appear to have handled the swelling viewing figures well.
The BBC has released a statement saying that they had “set aside as much capacity on our servers as we reasonably can” but cautioned that individual broadband access could have an effect on viewing quality.

It is thought the popularity of the online viewing service is due to the fact that employees in organisations around the UK tuned in online while still at work. A recent survey of business by Sage discovered that 80% of firms had failed to make any provision for their staff to see the game. Already, the World Cup has smashed records for online viewing, with traffic for news sites reaching over 12 million visitors per minute during the games, compared to the previous record of 8.5 million visitors per minute during the US presidential election.

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The research sparked debate, and many people have begun campaigning in an effort to alter the course of broadband provision in the US, following a recent court ruling questioning the FCC’s right to regulate internet service providers.
The FCC currently has a broadband plan named ‘net neutrality’, which demands that all data traffic be treated equally. They are putting forward a proposal to reclassify broadband from being a lightly regulated service to one with more vigorous controls. The two other options suggest keeping the existing broadband governing framework, or imposing stricter regulations on service provision.

The net neutrality proposal does not cover pricing of broadband, nor would it be responsible for overseeing content online, applications, services or e-commerce sites. The proposal has already caused a flurry of anger from ISPs including Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, who would prefer broadband governance to remain as it is.

“This is impossible to justify on either a policy or legal basis and we remain confident that if the FCC persists in its course – and we truly hope it does not – the courts will surely overturn their action,” said Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs.

Conversely, Google and Amazon are supporting the idea of net neutrality, suggesting that the broadband infrastructure should be tightly governed. The FCC looks almost certain to adopt this new legislation for broadband, which will likely provoke further antagonism, lobbying and legal challenges.

A research paper released ahead of the FCC vote warned that net neutrality rules could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs in the USA, as even a 10% reduction in investment by broadband providers would cost more than 500,000 jobs before 2015.

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The task of implementing the plan will fall to Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms, and Culture Minister, Sion Simon. The latter is well acquainted with the internet and digital media, you may remember his spectacularly unsuccessful dalliance with YouTube in 2007 where he put on an accent and impersonated Tory leader, David Cameron.

Speaking about the plans, Mr. Timms stated, “Building a 21st-century knowledge economy is at the heart of the Government’s vision. It’s vital for jobs and growth that Britain is able to maximise the benefits of the digital revolution.”

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Waxman and Rockerfeller’s point was that there are already question marks over the FCC’s ability to handle the potentially problematic switch to digital TV. Therefore, it would be foolish to add to their workload at this point.

One company that will be happy about the delay is T-Mobile. Provision of free broadband to all US customers requires the auctioning of the segment of airwaves next to the portion that the company recently paid $4.2 billion dollars for. They are worried about interference from their neighboring segment, though the FCC claim that this will not be a problem.

Either way, it seems that the dream of free US broadband, which has already endured delay after delay, will have to be put on hold again.

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