Time Warner has announced that it will curb its highly unpopular plan to meter its broadband Internet product. Actually, I’m not sure they’ve made a formal announcement yet — the news was broken by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) at a rally in my hometown of Rochester.
My family, friends, and the rest of the Rochester metro area had actually faced a war over Internet usage on two fronts before Frontier, the local DSL provider, announced it would drop its absurdly low 5 GB/month cap and TWC made its announcement today. This leaves Beaumont, TX — the original test case — as the only metro area paying by the gigabyte for Internet use, though some suspect their caps will be lifted soon as well.
For marketers, who are always looking for ways to expand social media, offer branded downloads, and monetize online video, this development is good news, as consumers will not be forced to limit their Internet usage, nor will they have to choose between viewing advertising content or regular content.
