Comcast Needs To Level With Consumers And Business Partners: Unlimited Media Content Will Cost More

Imagine if a cable network group -- Viacom, Discovery, or even an NBC Universal (that is, the company it is today in 2010) -- were to find a way to stuff scores of new cable networks into the slim cable spectrum that's currently available. This is probably how Comcast feels about Netflix as it continues to increase the number of movies, TV shows, and other content through Comcast's broadband service. All this seems to be part of the reason Level 3, Netflix's online video server partner, is complaining about extra charges from Comcast. This would seem to be an apples and oranges comparison between old-style cable networks and other content distributors. In the digital space, there are seemingly no limits. No shelf space. But in fact, there is. Comcast says Level 3 is pushing through twice as much content as other similar companies -- and that's not right.

As a big cable operator, Comcast knows a thing or two about shelf space. But in the digital media landscape, that old-time retail business term gets fuzzy -- especially to consumers who still see the Internet, and growing digital platforms, in a different ways. In part, Comcast and other big media companies are to blame -- marketing to consumers about a brave new digital world where every possible variety of media content can be available in an unlimited playground. But there's little mention in all this marketing of how much more all this will cost.