Telcoms companies try to rescue TV by imposing Internet usage caps on cord-cutters

Cory Doctorow 9:04 am Fri May 13, 2016

What do you do if you're a giant corporation devoted to selling people huge, $100/month bundles of TV channels they don't want anymore, but you also have a monopoly on selling high-speed Internet access, which they want very badly?

You take away unlimited Internet access from your Internet-only customers, and tell them they have to buy that TV package if they want it back!

Back in January, AT&T announced that the company would be happy to remove usage caps on its wireless network, but only if you subscribe to DirecTV or U-verse TV service. Then last month, AT&T carried this idea over to its fixed-line broadband network, announcing that it would be imposing new usage caps on its broadband users starting May 23. While AT&T says it will generously allow users to pay $30 more per month to avoid usage caps entirely, it also announced that users who subscribe to its TV services will be able to avoid usage caps entirely.

This month, an Oregon company by the name of Bend Broadband followed suit, informing its users that it would be happy to remove its usage caps (ranging from 150 GB to 500 GB), but only if users subscribe to television service.

ISPs Are Now Forcing Cord Cutters To Subscribe To TV If They Want To Avoid Usage Caps
[Karl Bode/Techdirt]

(Image: Att-co-houston, Bill Bradford, CC-BY)

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