Sen. Al Franken on Wednesday reached out to Netflix boss Reed Hastings to get details about his recent interconnection deal with Comcast.
Franken (D-Minn.), an outspoken critic of the proposed $45 billion merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, told Hastings in the letter he is concerned that interconnection deals like the Netflix-Comcast one will raise prices for consumers.
Under the Comcast interconnection deal, Netflix reportedly is paying the cable giant to ensure its video streams operate smoothly.
Previously, third-party providers have connected such video programmers to the home via their own commonplace traffic deals with Comcast.
The issue, known as “peering,” is understood to be a likely focus of federal regulators reviewing the proposed merger for potential anti-trust issues.
“Comcast argues that it operates in a highly competitive marketplace in which consumers have ample choices for high speed Internet service and therefore will not tolerate slow streaming speeds or artificially high costs,” Franken writes. “What do you make of that argument?”