Netflix has warned that attempts to force the company to pay for broadband infrastructure upgrades in Europe could hurt its content slate and won’t bring down broadband prices, Ars Technica reports.
The European Union (EU) recently started gathering inputs from the public on a proposal to effectively tax online platforms — including streaming providers — so they can help fund telecoms providers’ network upgrades.
Netflix, YouTube, and other video streaming services account for a large portion of Europeans’ Internet usage, which operators say requires expanding network bandwidth to keep up with demand.
At the same time, however, many people take up high-speed bandwidth specifically for watching video streaming services, so some might argue it is a case of one hand washing the other.
But the operators maintain that online platforms like Netflix have not been paying their fair share in this relationship.
Speaking at Mobile World Congress 2023, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said the tax would harm the streaming giant by reducing investment in content creation.
Peters argued that it would hurt the creative community and the attractiveness of higher-produced broadband packages.
“Broadband customers, who drive this increased usage, already pay for the development of the network through their subscription fees,” said Peters.
“Requiring entertainment companies — both streamers and broadcasters — to pay more on top would mean ISPs effectively charging twice for the same infrastructure.”
Peters explained that telecom providers also wouldn’t be obliged to lower package prices if the tax were adopted, which meant they stood to make more profit.
He said that Netflix’s operating margins were substantially lower than two of Europe’s biggest telecoms providers — British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.
“So we could just as easily argue that network operators should compensate entertainment companies for the cost of our content — exactly as happened under the old pay-TV model,” Peters said.
Peters said while ISPs argued otherwise, the taxes would eventually also apply to broadcasters that switched from linear TV to streaming, which meant there would be further knock-on effects on consumers.
The co-CEO also explained that Netflix had already spent over $1 billion (R18.19 billion) on its own content delivery network, which it offered for free to ISPs.
“This includes 18,000 servers with Netflix content distributed across 6,000 locations and 175 countries,” Peters stated.
“Instead of the film or TV show being streamed from halfway around the world, it’s streamed from around the corner — increasing efficiency for operators while also ensuring a high-quality, no-lag experience for consumers.”
In addition, Netflix uses some of the most efficient encoding technologies on the market to reduce the bandwidth taken up by its content.
"network" - Google News
March 06, 2023 at 05:35PM
https://ift.tt/IOE2kpQ
Netflix fighting proposal to make it pay for broadband network upgrades - MyBroadband
"network" - Google News
https://ift.tt/4wajtyv
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment