Netflix
According to multiple press reports, FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski last week echoed Google
Genachowski's comments are important for Netflix. CEO Reed Hastings has said from the beginning that his is a Web-based and Web-built business. With a speed of 100 megabits per second to the home available, he'd have a platform for delivering high-definition movies, instantly.
How can we know? Today's broadband networks operate at or slightly above 2 megabits per second, or 1/50th the rate Genachowski is aiming for, Akamai Technologies
A bigger boon for Netflix
No doubt Apple
Netflix, on the other hand, streams movies from its servers, typically with help from Akamai's primary Web-content delivery rival: Limelight Networks
Downloads are a stopgap. They allow for convenient delivery of movies and other video at a manageable broadband pace. The lag time isn't bad, either. I'm usually able to watch the movies I've downloaded from Apple's iTunes store within minutes of clicking "accept," regardless of whether the file was still downloading.
Ultra-high-speed broadband, when lit, would make these sorts of downloads more of a luxury than a necessity.
Of course, Netflix would have work to do to profit from whatever infrastructure buildup the feds approve, whether it's WiMAX, LTE, or dark fiber. At the very least, the company would have to battle-test its own data center operations to avoid the sort of outages that hit the site last week.
Such is the price of extraordinary growth; you can bet Hastings would be happy to pay. This, after all, is the company that famously said in an internal HR presentation that "adequate" performance merits a "generous severance package."
Hastings expects the extraordinary from his people and his company. If Genachowski's plea is heard, he'll get a boost from some extraordinary technology, too.
What steps will Netflix take to benefit from a national high-speed broadband rollout? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
