Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has issued something of a veiled threat in a blog post published on Thursday — the U.S. needs to instate strong net neutrality rules or pay-for-interconnection deals like the one it signed with Comcast will become common.
In the post, Hastings lays out how his streaming video service has suffered due to the lack of "strong" net neutrality rules.
See also: The Comcast-Netflix Deal: Fact vs. Fiction
"This weak net neutrality isn't enough to protect an open, competitive Internet; a stronger form of net neutrality is required," he wrote. "Strong net neutrality additionally prevents ISPs from charging a toll for interconnection to services like Netflix, YouTube, or Skype, or intermediaries such as Cogent, Akamai or Level 3, to deliver the services and data requested by ISP residential subscribers. Instead, they must provide sufficient access to their network without charge."
Interconnection helps alleviate network congestion that can hamper data-heavy services. Hastings admitted that Netflix recently paid Comcast to make an interconnection between its networks.
"Netflix believes strong net neutrality is critical, but in the near term we will in cases pay the toll to the powerful ISPs to protect our consumer experience," he wrote. "When we do so, we don’t pay for priority access against competitors, just for interconnection. A few weeks ago, we agreed to pay Comcast and our members are now getting a good experience again."
The blog post comes as the Federal Communications Commission works to rewrite the net neutrality rules that were struck down by a D.C. Court of Appeals.
Previous net neutrality rules did not touch on interconnection and peering, which BTIG Research called "the Internet Issue of 2014."
Comcast responded to the blog post, issuing a comment from David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast.

“There has been no company that has had a stronger commitment to openness of the Internet than Comcast," Cohen wrote. "We supported the FCC’s Open Internet rules because they struck the appropriate balance between consumer protection and reasonable network management rights for ISPs. We are now the only ISP in the country that is bound by them."
Comcast is currently bound by net neutrality agreements due to terms that it accepted as part of its acquisition of NBC Universal.
However Cohen took issue with Hastings' call to include interconnection as part of net neutrality, adding that Netflix was merely paying Comcast instead of a middleman.

“The Open Internet rules never were designed to deal with peering and Internet interconnection, which have been an essential part of the growth of the Internet for two decades," he wrote. "Providers like Netflix have always paid for their interconnection to the Internet and have always had ample options to ensure that their customers receive an optimal performance through all ISPs at a fair price."
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.