Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, has officially announced his support of usage-based pricing for broadband services.
“Usage-based” refers to a tiered-fee model that allots more bandwidth to users who are willing to pay extra.
Speaking at the NCTA Cable Show in Boston on Tuesday, Genachowski said that tiered pricing could help spur industry innovation and competition.
“Public interest groups and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings have criticized the practice, saying users will be punished for watching streaming video services, for example, that tip them over their monthly limits,” reports The Washington Post. “Hastings has also cried foul over how Comcast isn’t counting video use of its own XFinity services against data plans.”
Comcast recently announced it would begin usage-based pricing on a trial basis.
“Business model innovation is very important,” Genachowski said. “There was a point of view a couple years ago that there was only one permissible pricing model for broadband. I didn’t agree.”
No Comments Yet
You can be the first to comment!
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.