• Daily Finance, Thursday, September 24, 2009 1:30 PM

Sure, we're big fans of Mark Cuban. Along with the whole self-made-billionaire-diehard-sports-fan-all-round-nice-guy thing, he's known as a guy who has never been afraid to speak his mind and break with common convention. But, while he may be a maverick, he's no anarchist. A staunch critic of "net neutrality," Cuban's latest contention is that the concept's biggest detractors -- cable companies like Comcast -- have the most to gain from it.

Cuban -- himself a Web video pioneer and cofounder and chairman of high-def cable network HDNet -- envisions a scenario where an unregulated Web is soon crippled by a glut of live and streaming video, which leaves disgruntled consumers with no other option but to get cable.

"If it's already difficult to get the low bit-rate things without buffering, and the expectation is a true television experience, in an open-Internet environment you can't deliver a true television experience," he told DailyFinance.com following MediaPost's Future of Media Forum after making similar remarks from the stage. "If it's live, everybody's trying to get at it at the same time ... The requirements on the back-end for servers go through the roof."

Cuban also argues that a truly neutral Web leaves the door wide open for saboteurs, and just plain selfish consumers who could, knowingly or not, deprive others of a quality viewing experience online.

"Let's say I hate the Giants and I'm a Jets fan, and I have a high-speed computer and a 100-megabit ethernet connection to my ISP," he says. "I can just set up a PC, hook it up, show my cat and stream it live and nobody in my neighborhood's going to get the game ... And I have every right to do that as much Comcast or CBS does to distribute their live version of the game."

In a bid to formalize "net neutrality," the chairman of the FCC earlier this week outlined new rules that would prohibit Internet providers from selectively blocking content and applications online.

Slightly off topic, but no less notable, is Cuban's assertion that the wealth of free TV online is a fleeting luxury for consumers. He's says of the networks and their programming: "I think what'll end up happening is they'll yank most of it."

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