Qwest Embraces Over-The-Top Video

Apparently, q is choosing to embrace the long awaited flood of over-the-top video rather than try to enter the content markets itself.  A Light Reading article details comments by Qwest’s Neil Cox, which include gems like this:

“We are seeing ASV — ad-supported video — and Blu-rays and new TVs hooked up to the Internet, and we at Qwest are not going to stand in the way.  We want to make sure [OTT content providers’] video works better on our network than on anyone else’s network.”

I’m sure that’s music to network neutrality ears.  Damn the traffic torpedoes, full speed ahead!  

One might say Qwest doesn’t have much choice, they don’t have the resources to make a FIOS or U-verse play, and they sure don’t want the cable companies to win.  The alternative, therefore, is to make the economics work without needing to own the triple play.  So companies like Netflix and ZillionTV will may find Qwest territory a bit more friendly than elsewhere, though they’re going to have to work with copper and xDSL for the forseeable future of course.  

But just because it is the pragmatic and popular choice doesn’t mean it was an inevitable one.  Will they still feel the same way when everyone becomes a ‘bandwidth hog’ just by watching an hour of over-the-top TV each day?  We shall see…

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Categories: ILECs, PTTs · Video