Despite Deal, Netflix CEO Blasts Comcast

RANCHOS PALOS VERDES, Calif. — One day after Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Netflix wants to push a huge amount of Internet traffic through the cable company's pipes, but doesn't want to pay for it, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings hit back — saying Comcast wants to be a monopoly that's charging for access to its subscribers and "pulling profits out of the system."

The online video content company that accounts for roughly one-third of all Internet traffic, and one of the largest cable and Internet companies in the country are locked in a bizarre partnership battle. Netflix recently agreed to start paying Comcast for direct and better access to Comcast subscribers at, according to Roberts, a better rate than they got from other transit providers, and Netflix promptly turned around and criticized the deal it had just made. Read more...