The vote by the FCC to repeal the Obama administration’s Net Neutrality laws yesterday has spurred a huge outrage across social media and other outlets because of the possible ramifications of its repeal. Nothing is clearly set in stone, but Internet Service Providers, if the Net Neutrality repeal makes it through the federal government vote, will be able to control how you use any kind of their internet. This affects the film industry in two fairly powerful ways.
The spreading of information, including cast hirings, trailers, film posters, etc., may potentially be affected severely by net neutrality. If the United States continues with the repeal, ISP’s will officially be able to control what you will be able to see, either by throttling, or slowing down, specific websites or charging the consumer as a whole to see specific sites, meaning certain packages would only include Facebook and Twitter, but not Youtube. This could potentially cost large AAA and indie companies millions of dollars because of the lack of publicity being provided to the public because of the repeal.
The second effect would be the literal effects on streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. Some of these companies have film studios to create exclusive film content, like original movies, to their customers. If the ISP’s begin to regulate specific websites and streaming services into packages, consumers may no longer be able to afford the Netflix package or other packages, causing a huge loss in not only their film division but their company as a whole.
Currently, these are all possible ramifications, and we will continue to follow the repeal to be able to provide more information on the true ramifications.
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