• Financial Times, Monday, August 13, 2007 11:30 AM

Internet Service Providers across the globe want you to know that their bandwidth comes at a premium-or at least it should. Late last week, leading ISPs in the UK warned the BBC that it would have to start restricting access to the company's new iPlayer streaming video service unless it starts contributing to streaming costs over their networks. The argument that Tiscali, British Telecom, Carphone Warehouse and other UK ISPs make is similar to the one adopted by U.S. telecom companies in their bid to shut down Net Neutrality: companies should pay for services that require more bandwidth.

The BBC's ambitious iPlayer service allows British Web users to watch BBC programming over the Web for free, but the ISPs argue that the company's massive customer base could clog up their networks, especially during peak usage times. Says Mary Turner, chief executive of Tiscali UK: "If the iPlayer really takes off, consumers accessing the Internet will get very slow service and will call their ISPs to complain." Tiscali's message to the BBC: share the network costs or we'll make the service painfully slow for your users.

BBC isn't the only British media giant to launch an Internet video app. ITV and Channel 4 also have media players, and don't forget about other bandwidth-sucking Web TV services like Joost.

Read the whole story at Financial Times »