It’s no secret that Netflix has been running much slower on Comcast’s cable networks for some time. (Well, “slower” is an understatement, as seen below.)

Comcast has, apparently, been throttling (or slowing down) Netflix’s service on purpose, thought the cable giant denies this (under oath). The Verge recently reported:

The result comes after a number of troubling moves by Comcast, which had seen Netflix speeds plummet on the network, as reflected in the service’s monthly ISP rankings. Comcast has sworn it isn’t throttling Netflix traffic, but the simple fact is that Netflix traffic has grown increasingly difficult to deliver onto Comcast’s network, while other ISPs see little degradation. As analyst Rich Greenfield put it, “How come Time Warner is showing solid Netflix performance without paid peering?”

While at first this sounds like a simple hangup for certain users, you have to take into account that nearly a third, ONE THIRD, of all US nightly internet bandwidth in the entire United State of America can be traced back to Netflix. In other words, Netflix’s speed problems are everyone’s problems.

But, as The Verge alluded to, the real issue here is the “troubling” connotations this has for Comcast. Widely seen as one of the worst companies in the country, it’s recently moved to acquire Time Warner Cable, the next largest, and almost as loathed, cable provider in the nation.

The point here is that Comcast is hardly trusted by the American people, and their latest monopolistic grab of TWC has made customers and citizens even more nervous. Now, when you take into account that Comcast inexplicably has slowed their Netflix speeds, you have to wonder where the company is headed and if Americans should be worried.

Emily Torres is an Entertainment and News Blogger for TV and Dish Network.

Categories: DISH & TV news