How does charging Level 3 to deliver content disadvantage online providers of content including movies and TV shows?
Many customers already pay online providers for the right to stream or download video content including movies and TV shows. Comcast’s customers also pay Comcast for a certain amount of bandwidth. If Comcast is able to use its dominance in local access to raise the price of competing content either directly or through Level 3, it can gain a relative price advantage for its own cable TV and online content. Comcast maintains that it does not “block” any lawful content. That statement is like asserting that a toll booth doesn’t “block” traffic on a highway. Comcast seems to argue that imposing a “tax” on content — in an amount determined by Comcast — does not matter. As U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall famously said, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” Or, as one prominent industry executive has observed to Level 3, “If they can charge for access today, they can block access tomorrow.” 15. Q: Comcast says that they know of no precedent for government intervention in
