Have you heard? There are shiny, new products from Apple! Of course, things got smaller, and better, and sexier. The Apple TV caught my eye. It fits perfectly into the portfolio of devices that allow people to consume whatever media they like on Apple devices, with an Apple user experience. But I wonder if it's going lead to Apple going head to head with the likes of Verizon, Comcast, and Google to defend Net Neutrality?
The Apple TV is small box, about the size of a hockey puck, that plugs into your TV. It has wi-fi, so you stream video straight to your TV. Unlike other set top boxes, including the previous version of the Apple TV, you don't store anything on the device. You don't own any movies or TV shows, you just rent them. For that to work, you must have a fast, steady internet connection. And that's where Apple's interests may run contrary to cable providers.
Right now, my cable TV service comes from Comcast. I also get my internet access from Comcast. There is a huge number of shows that I'll watch if they happen to be on while I happen to bored. But there are only four shows that I make a point of watching. With an Apple TV, watching four shows a week would cost $4, or $16 for the month. That's way less than Comcast's cable TV. Which begs they question, why pay for a redundant service that bundles literally dozens of channels I never watch with the few that I do?
Good question! But this gets complicated because of the fact that in my case, three of the four shows I make of point of watching are on NBC. Comcast owns NBC, and the network has not yet signed on to provide content for the Apple TV. Fox, ABC, and the Disney Channel are signed on so far. What happens if Comcast the ISP throttles the bandwidth for video on demand services that compete with Comcast the Media Company? What happens if they offer one tier–speed or a monthly data cap–to customers who only purchase internet access and another (better) tier to customers who buy TV and internet? Right now, that can't happen. Internet service providers treat everything that passes through their "tubes" equally, but there's a big push to change that. That's what the Net Neutrality debate is all about.
Consumers are still figuring out how they want to consume TV shows, and companies are still figuring out how they want to provide them. Legislators and lobbyists are still figuring out what to do about Net Neutrality. Apple's new product makes it look like one of the biggest tech companies in the world suddenly has a very strong interest in preserving Net Neutrality.
