Mark Cuban asks for tiered Internet service model
Broadcast.com cofounder, Dallas Mavericks owner, and budding entertainment mogul Mark Cuban's latest blog entry makes the case for a multitiered Internet, with priority given to the applications that really matter.
Context & Ripple Effects
Mark Cuban's Ars Technica writeup distills an argument he first made two days earlier in his own Blog Maverick post calling for multiple tiers of service: that the Baby Bells and cable operators should be allowed to prioritize traffic from applications that matter most. Coming off a December New York Times piece asking whether Cuban is missing the big picture, the post doubles down on his bet that bandwidth-hungry video is where the network's value concentrates.
First-order effects
- Cable and telephone companies get a credible, media-owning advocate for paid prioritization just as they weigh charging application providers rather than consumers for capacity.
- Bandwidth-heavy video businesses aligned with Cuban's interests gain a policy argument that their traffic deserves priority over commodity web traffic.
Second-order effects
- Application providers and startups without negotiating leverage would face the prospect of paying for reach they currently get by default, sharpening the emerging debate over network neutrality.
- Content distributors betting on open delivery of video — the space Cuban himself plays in through HDNet and his theatrical ventures — now have to pick sides between carrier-friendly tiering and neutral-pipe advocacy.
Third-order effects
- If carriers win the right to sell priority tiers, the Internet shifts toward a two-sided market where both publishers and subscribers pay for access, entrenching incumbents who can afford fast lanes and raising regulatory questions about discrimination among applications.
The trend: Broadband is moving from a flat-rate common carriage model toward contested tiered service, with content owners like Cuban arguing their applications justify priority treatment.