本週AT&T宣佈將對DirecTV的新流媒體服務給予特殊待遇，將其排除在AT&T客戶的無線資料上限之外。自從我們開始寫關於網路中立性的文章以來，我們一直認為零評級是一個不好的、反競爭的想法，從長遠來看，它會傷害消費者，儘管在短期內它可能看起來像是一個巨大的消費者利益。現在我們知道，聯邦通訊委員會似乎同意了，根據它今天發給Verizon和AT&T的信，關於他們的零評級和贊助資料專案。

你可以在這裡讀到更多關於這些信件的內容，但我想重點介紹一下FCC給AT&amp；這確實突出了零評級和贊助資料是如何被用來共同打擊競爭對手的。

Using the reference example from your white paper stating that your Sp***ored Data rates are similar to the discounted wholesale rates paid by major wireless resellers, we estimate for purposes of illustrating our concerns that an unaffiliated mobile video service provider would have to pay AT&T $16 a month to offer zero-rated service to a customer who uses just 10 minutes of LTE video per day, increasing to $47 for a customer using 30 minutes per day. These costs alone would represent 46 percent to 134 percent of DIRECTV Now's $35 retail price, against which third parties will be competing for AT&T Mobility customers, and would be borne in addition to all other costs of providing service by the unaffiliated provider. As c***umers increasingly use mobile video services - a process which the practice of zero-rating mobile video usage will accelerate - these Sp***ored Data charges could reasonably be expected to increase even more. By contrast, AT&T incurs no comparable cost to offer its own DIRECTV Now service on a zero-rated basis. If we understand these facts correctly, AT&T seems to present the unaffiliated provider with a choice that is unreasonable on its face: either pay a Sp***ored Data rate (resulting in a $16-$47 per month - or higher - incremental cash cost not incurred by AT&T) that would make it very difficult, if not infeasible, to offer a competitively-priced service, or instead require its customers to pay significant amounts for their own usage of data while AT&T's zero-rated DIRECTV Now service offers customers the same usage for free.

聯邦通訊委員會在腳註中解釋說，這是一個相對保守的估計。有充分的理由相信網際網路服務提供商會收取盡可能多的費用。只要看看Netflix與康卡斯特的吵鬧戰爭，然後想象一下未來，每個不屬於ISP的內容公司都必須像這樣單獨談判。那太瘋狂了。

這也會損害消費者的利益，因為他們已經為訪問他們要求ISP檢索的內容付費了。贊助資料不過是將網際網路劃分成額外收費區域的一種嘗試。

沒有理由認為這種安排會以AT&T和DirecTV收場。AT&T目前正在收購時代華納，並可能與HBO做同樣的事情。如果說我們在過去半個世紀看到的媒體業有一個可靠且有據可查的趨勢，那就是大規模的整合——在美國，只有六家公司擁有約90%的媒體業務：新聞集團、迪士尼、維亞康姆、哥倫比亞廣播公司、時代華納和康卡斯特。如果在&amp；T收購時代華納（Time Warner）名單上的兩家公司將代表擁有傳輸層和傳輸層上的內容的大型企業集團，這給了它們強大的競爭對手很大的力量(再次：見康卡斯特vs.網飛。）

如果零評級和贊助資料的雙重打擊能說明網際網路服務提供商在放鬆管制的網際網路環境中的表現，那麼沒有理由相信扼殺網路中立性會增加市場競爭。對網路擁有壟斷權的垂直整合ISP也將獲得對世界資訊的編輯權。

網際網路是一件偉大的事情。如果我們讓AT&T和Verizon將其分割開來，那將是一個恥辱，因為他們想像舊的有線電視壟斷企業一樣強大。