Interesting blog from the Online Journalism Review site, about the dangers to online publishers if internet service providers (ISPs) adapt pricing models based on usage.
According to the author Robert Niles, “the next great battle in the journalism industry will be the Battle of Bandwidth”.
Internet Service Providers clearly don’t want to continue offering a one-price-buys-everything option. ISPs have shown that they favor a pricing model where certain users have to pay more to use more bandwidth. While there’s some logical appeal to the idea of making the heaviest users of the Internet pay the most for their use, metered traffic online creates profound challenges for online content producers.
He concludes his blog with a plea to online publishers to support calls for the government to subsidise increased bandwidth for all.
Access to bandwidth is the issue that will nurture, or kill, online news and information businesses in the years to come. If you’re publishing online, you need to fight for your access to bandwidth – and your potential audience’s access to it, as well.