Although video-streaming company Netflix has long pushed the notion of 100 percent backing for net neutrality and the equal playing field for companies online, it was announced that Netflix would be paying Verizon for direct access on the mobile carrier's network. This will allow for better viewing experiences for users on their smartphone devices.
The company said in a brief note to the media that "we have reached an interconnect arrangement with Verizon that we hope will improve performance for our joint customers over the coming months."
Netflix spokesman Joris Evers said "we have reached an interconnect arrangement with Verizon that we hope will improve performance for our joint customers over the coming months."
The move is nearly identical to a similar agreement the company made with Comcast earlier this year.
Ironically, it comes as the company CEO Reed Hastings wrote in a blog post on net neutrality that "The essence of net neutrality is that ISPs such as AT&T and Comcast don't restrict, influence or otherwise meddle with the choices consumers make."
Since that posting, he has conceded that his company would be making similar deals as the one with Verizon in the near future. However, he asserted that Netflix would fight hard for net neutrality.
With the growing user frustration over streaming Netflix on their phones, and accusations that Verizon was throttling speeds on the video-streaming service, the deal should help alleviate much of the concerns and anger over their inability to watch television shows or movies on their phones.
It is unclear how much Netflix will be paying Verizon for the increased speed, but it does potentially signal a new wave in the tech business world, where companies are looking to boost their connectivity with their users and in order to do so will be paying ISP's for that right.
It is eerily similar to the FCC's latest discussion of "fast lanes" that would allow companies to pay the government in order to have the fastest possible connection of their videos online to their viewers. This has led many to question the government's position on net neutrality. Some have even gone as far as saying that net neutrality is "dead" and that a new age of the Internet as commodity and business has arrived.
