Hospital telethon mishap raises Internet throttling questions: CFTPA/ IFTA

An online telethon for sick children last year went offline periodically because the ISP treated the broadcast’s video stream as an unwanted peer-to-peer (P2P) upload, according to the telethon’s producer. At the CRTC hearings into Internet neutrality today, Brad Fox argued that it’s time for the government to put an end to packet-throttling practices. Speaking on a panel with representatives from the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA) and the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), Fox explained how the fundraiser issue occurred. On short notice, his production company Rocket Ace Moving Pictures teamed up with Hamilton ON-based sketch comedy troupe The Imponderables for a web show: the troupe would stay awake for 24 hours as long as audience members kept making donations, which would go towards the SickKids Foundation, supporting The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Video cameras would capture the troupe’s efforts, and performances from Canadian comedians invited to entertain and help keep The Imponderables awake. Rocket Ace worked with Mountain View CA-based web video platform operator uStream.tv – a telethon sponsor – to get the video out to the audience. But this was all on short notice, and the team didn’t have time to work out any special allowances with Bell Canada, the ISP that the production used. That became a problem. “We were OK for the initial afternoon, but that night it became clear – you could just see the traffic being hammered down,” Fox said during an interview with Tech Media Reports following his CRTC presentation. “We began to realize the pattern was recurring, repeatable, and directly in line with BitTorrent throttling patterns after the fact.” It’s no secret that Bell and other ISPs throttle streams from BitTorrent, the popular P2P service. Internet providers have long said that BitTorrent streams place undue pressure on the network and threaten to hinder traffic from other online applications. But Fox was surprised that video from the fundraiser had been lumped in with P2P traffic. “It probably shared some common characteristics,” he said. “It was small packets, it was regular, it was a long-duration upload.” The producers had to ask the audience to log off and re-enter the uStream.tv website to keep the video flowing. Fox said that happened four or five times. “I figured we were losing 200 to 300 audience members each time,” representing around 5% of the total audience. How did that impact the fundraiser? “It’s a telethon. The more people you have watching, the more money you have coming in.” The story illustrates Fox’s argument, and that of the CFTPA and the IFTA: independent producers like Rocket Ace need unfettered access to the web, and ISP traffic-management practices may create unreasonable barriers. “If allowed to take root, such practices may choke off the only distribution method that currently allows independent producers to directly reach their audience,” said John Barrack, national executive VP and counsel, CFTPA. Susan Cleary, VP and general counsel for the IFTA, explained that while independent producers used to be able to get their programs onto broadcast and cable networks, now only a fraction of TV content comes from the independents, because the networks have consolidated and favour home-grown content. “Revenues from downloading or streaming digital content may soon become the primary...way for independent producers to finance, produce, and distribute content,” she said. ISPs shouldn’t be allowed to target specific applications, she said. Independent producers use P2P platforms to monetize their content. That being the case, “we would respectfully suggest that application-based traffic throttling by ISPs should attract a higher degree of scrutiny from the commission.” Fox said CFTPA would like to see non-discriminatory network management made a condition of service for ISPs, explicitly prohibiting application throttling. But during a Q&A after the presentation, CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said the Telecommunications Act already addresses undue traffic preference. He asked how the CFTPA’s suggestion would change things? Reynolds Mastin, the CFTPA’s associate counsel, said the wording in the Act indicates that the CRTC “may” find certain practices discriminatory, whereas his group would like to see the practices labelled as very likely discriminatory. “It’s the difference between ‘may’ and ‘must,’” he said. Fox reiterated that the web must be open to independent producers. “If we want today’s generation provided with their own MASH or All in the Family – which may take a very different form like a five-minute webisode... – then we can’t kill the goose before it is allowed to lay the golden egg,” he said. Stefan Dubowski is a freelance writer in Ottawa. You can reach him via sdubowski@rogers.com.

Hospital telethon mishap raises Internet throttling questions: CFTPA/ IFTA

Broadcast | July 8, 2009

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us