Pai Probes Netflix on Streaming Policy

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai has registered his concerns over reports about Netflix's Open Connect program with company CEO Reed Hastings.  

In a letter dated Tuesday (Dec. 2), Pai cited articles reporting that Netflix had chosen not to participate in developing open standards for streaming video and had at least "tested" measures that would "undermine" that effort.  

He said he was specifically concerned about suggestions Netflix has impeded open caching software. "In other words," he said, "if standards collectively agreed upon by much of the industry cannot identify and correctly route Netflix traffic, those standards ultimately are unlikely to be of much benefit to digital video customers." 

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.