Comcast, Cox and Charter cable systems already have usage caps on their broadband services and Canada’s Rogers moved to consumption-based broadband pricing several years ago. Time Warner, however met with customer resistance when it experimented in 2009 with usage-based pricing on some of its systems.

So what does this all mean for the average couch potato? Well if you were expecting to cut your cable service from the SuperOptimal Platimum Tier to Basic Cable and watch all your shows on Hulu Plus, your broadband provider just might have something else in mind.

UPDATE: Netflix Cuts Data Use on Canada Streaming Service [and the techie details from BGR.]

In an article in the September 6th issue of Time Magazine, Joel Stein makes the case against net neutrality by arguing that limited bandwidth needs to be allocated fairly. He says that is why your cell phone company “allows 911 calls through first, phone calls second, instant messages next and Web searches last.”

Allocating bandwidth is fine if you are an over-the-air broadcaster or cell phone company where there is limited (government licensed) spectrum. But let’s think about where most of us get our home internet service. Unless you are stealing it from your neighbor’s unencrypted router, chances are you are getting it from your cable company – which is also in the business of selling you pricey “silver” and “gold” packages of pay-tv channels.

What happens if you and a majority of the people in your franchise area begin watching True Blood, Dexter and Rescue Me by downloading them from Bit-Torrent? You and your neighbors cancel your high cost cable packages and opt for the basic package plus internet service. Watch your cable companies revenue decline while bandwidth usage goes up, making it harder for them to stream “on-demand” movies to those people who are still stupid enough to pay for them. How do you think that will make your cable company feel about net neutrality? Just Google “tiered service“.

Disney and NBCU are a double threat as they also own over-the-air stations that are must-carry as per FCC regulations.

NewTeeVee suggests that this is in response to the growing acceptance of WebM, the open-source set of standards backed by Google and soon to supported by Firefox 4.

(Thanks to philiphodgetts.com.)

READ THE COMPLETE POST HERE.

The game had the best fast overnight numbers since the 1987 game between the New York Giants and Denver Broncos.

The proposal calls for over-the-air broadcasters to transition from today’s high power single transmitter DTV infrastructure to one based on multiple DTS single-frequency network transmitters. The NAB and  MSTV filing said the plan would create loss of service to viewers resulting from increased coverage gaps and interference.

READ THE ENTIRE BROADCAST ENGINEERING ARTICLE HERE

Comcast SVP Derek Harrar wants you to know that Comcast, not DirecTV, will be the place to go for 3D TV content in 2010 according to this article from Multichannel News. (And this press release.) Harrar said that Comcast lead they way with Hannah Montana: The Movie in 2008 and followed-up with My Bloody Valentine, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience and Coraline, all offered in the anaglyph 3D format.

The All Mobile Video unit will incorporate 3D camera rigs from 3ality Digital, while NEP’s truck uses 3D HD camera rigs from PACE.

Receiving a big send-off from manufacturers at this week’s CES, free mobile digital television could either be part of broadcast TV’s salvation, or a non-starter. With so many under-30′s used to watching on their computers or downloading to their portable devices, mobile DTV may only be a big hit in soccer mom’s minivans.

(Photo: Samsung Moment Android powered phone to be used in testing Mobile DTV in Baltimore and Washington D.C.)