Can Internet Video on Demand actually deliver?

"Net Neutrality": ISP hostility to Internet Video on Demand

Video on Demand is not competitive with physical alternatives because the Internet infrastructure is currently unable to support it. The meteoric rise of video downloads in any form (whether on pirate networks or from sites like YouTube or DailyMotion) has taken residential Internet Service Providers (ISPs) by surprise. It threatens ISPs' business model, which is based on overselling capacity and assumes bandwidth use is sporadic.

Internet Video on Demand magnifies ISPs' costs, but does not bring them any additional revenue. It should come as no surprise that ISPs are hostile to it, and that they see little value in upgrading their infrastructure for Internet Video on Demand.

Citing rising costs, ISPs have lobbied for the repeal of the so-called "net neutrality" rule – with some success. Under the "net neutrality" rule, ISPs are not currently allowed to meddle with the traffic that transits through their pipes. If "net neutrality" goes, they will be allowed to set up tiered pricing on a website basis – basically deciding which Video on Demand service is available on their network, and which is not.

Since most ISPs already offer some kind of Video on Demand service, or are planning to, it is pretty easy to guess how well it is going to turn out.

Next page: Conclusion: The predictable failure of Internet Video on Demand

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Articles in that section

• Can Internet Video on Demand actually deliver?
• The search for a High-Definition Video on Demand solution
• An elegant way to fight widespread copyright infringement on the Internet
• Summary: Snowball® OpenDelivery™: a novel approach to content-delivery networks

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