Tech News: Throttle The Package: Europe’s Fight For Net Neutrality

While nerd-friendly content has ruled the online video world up till now, the jocks and all their sporting events are storming the web. Yesterday, the Sports Business Journal reported that the NBA is in negotiations with regional sports networks and cable providers to stream live basketball games online. And today, MediaPost writes that the NFL has entered into an exclusive deal with Sprint to offer live telecasts of games. 1

The NBA deal is a complicated one with different parties rights entangled, and cable and satellite TV providers not wanting to lose a cash cow. The initial idea is to stream local games through regional sports networks and provide geotargeting (a web video consumer’s favorite word) so those outside the region couldn’t watch. No decision was made as to whether the games would be ad-supported or require a subscription. 2

Rogers seems willing to take the gamble that this might scare off a small number of subscribers, perhaps a number the company can afford to lose (this was the explanation for introducing bandwidth caps in 2002). This time, however, the company is offering four different plans, each with a different maximum cap: Ultra-Lite subscribers 2 GB per month; Lite limits its subscribers to 25 GB per month; Express to 60 GB, and Extreme to 95 GB. 3

How long before RIAA calls on these guys? They have applied for a small webcaster license, but that won’t be enough if the company gets popular. Peter Kafka says they they will “end up having to pay the same rates as the big guys, which basically translates to about 2 cents per listener, per hour this year, and will jump to 3 cents next year.” Porter remains undeterred! 4

In this time of political polarity, new media management and production studio Generate is hoping to bring the country together with its new online series, Republicrats. Debuting today on MSN, Republicrats follows the comedic presidential aspirations of Sean Masterson. 5