Re: It would just lead to a redefinition - or clarificaiton - of what Internet services are.
I think it simply clarifies what is acceptable business practise.
So my ISP can either buy into Netflix's direct access service or Netflix can provide it 'gratuitous' to my ISP, either are valid. However, in neither deal can there be a direct connection between this and the handling of traffic delivered over the 'public' channel. So if the direct Netflix service is only available via subscription, then non-subscribers should not be discriminated against by having their service deliberately reduced. Likewise in no part of the Netflix deal should subscribers to a competitive service, such as LoveFilm, be impacted.
However, as I indicated above, it would not surprise me to find that ISP's with digital TV services will make bandwidth reservations, just as they do at present with respect to the landline telephone service. (I seem to remember one of the 'tricks' BE did to wring the last bit of performance out of a traditional line was to switch the landline phone over to VoIP and so enable a different approach to line signalling and give customers a significant speed boost - important when ADSL was struggling to achieve speeds of 1Mbps).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
