Netflix picking a fight with ISPs?

Given that Netflix could be facing semi-adversarial relationships with the studios, now that it has agreed to delay renting new releases from Warner Bros. you might expect it to keep a low profile on other fronts.  

Not hardly.

The video rental company – and, increasingly, Web streaming service – is asking the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules to protect viewers of streaming video. That, effectively, puts the company in a potential face-off with ISPs.

The Washington Post first noted the filing, which foreshadows a battle between Netflix and big internet providers - specifically Comcast.

“The recent announcement of the proposed merger of Comcast and NBC Universal serves to exacerbate the growing concern that MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributors) will use their control over programming networks to stifle competition, including the growing competition from online video providers like Netflix,” it writes.

The debate, at its heart, is the ongoing one about Net Neutrality. Netflix is worried that large cable operators, who also run large Internet operations, will restrict bandwidth of competing services.