When IPTV Isn’t OTT: Comcast’s Dilemma

[Commentary] Don’t look now, but Stream TV, Comcast’s new Internet protocol-delivered skinny-bundle service, is about to open up an old can of worms tied to the Federal Communications Commission’s network-neutrality rules.

Net Neutrality Worries: Comcast’s policy with Stream TV, a service for broadband-only customers, is catching some heat from bloggers and others who believe it violates network-neutrality rules or, at the very least, puts other online video services at a disadvantage. But Stream TV is not an over-the-top service, Comcast has insisted. That’s because it is delivered over separately provisioned bandwidth, and because the IP traffic it generates does not intermix with the traffic and bandwidth set aside for Comcast’s public high-speed Internet products. That means Comcast is not prioritizing IP traffic. Rather, it’s using a separately managed swath of bandwidth for its IP-delivered services. DOCSIS 3.0 modems are flexible in that some tuners can be used for regular high-speed Internet service, while others can be used for managed IP services, like Stream TV or Comcast’s Xfinity TV app for X1.

Within the Current Rules: For now, the rules appear to be in Comcast’s favor when it comes to managed IPTV services, which are viewed differently in terms of regulations than services delivered over a public Internet connection. In multichannel video programming distributor definition rules issued last December, the FCC said “an entity that delivers cable services via IP is a cable operator to the extent it delivers those services as managed video services over its own facilities and within its footprint.”