>If Net Neutrality goes away wouldn't it actually strengthen the position of the current dominant players?
Would it? I'm under the impression, many of the companies big enough to muster some form of competition against the Big 5 are the ISPs who would be negatively impacted by Title 2 rules.
>They are the ones who can more easily afford to pay for preferred delivery no?
I suppose the ISP could cut them off and offer their own versions of the services. It wouldn't be very much different than how Apple dictates what you can and can't do on their mobile devices.
>"I'm under the impression, many of the companies big enough to muster some form of competition against the Big 5 are the ISPs"
So you believe that those ISPs that are mostly local monopolies(maybe part of a duopoly at best)are going to provide competition? How as has that been working out so far?
The average American now pays $103.00 a month for crap cable service and crap equipment[1]. And that price is only increasing[2]. In fact cable TV price increases have outpaced inflation every year for the last 20 years[3].
Also it's not just video and music streaming bits that could be de-prioritized in the absence of Net Neutrality, its all bits.
The last time I checked none of these ISPs operated all the other things I use the internet for like reading news, shopping, checking email and making travel arrangements. Do you imagine they will offer competition there too as soon as they aren't bound by Title II?
Look at any Cable provider's on-screen interface for the channel guide or the plastic remote that hasn't changed in 20 years that you need to use to navigate it. Do these give you the impression these are innovative companies capable of building good software and competing?
Lastly there are other ISPs besides the eye ball/last mile networks(Comcast/Time Warner/Charter etc.) There are also the Tier 1 ISPs[4] that internet companies buy transit from in order to deliver their service to end users.
If Net Neutrality goes away those Tier 1 ISPs that own national backbones and are upstream from all the eye ball/last mile networks are free to "play games" with delivering bits as well.
Would it? I'm under the impression, many of the companies big enough to muster some form of competition against the Big 5 are the ISPs who would be negatively impacted by Title 2 rules.
>They are the ones who can more easily afford to pay for preferred delivery no?
I suppose the ISP could cut them off and offer their own versions of the services. It wouldn't be very much different than how Apple dictates what you can and can't do on their mobile devices.