The bad news now, is, there are plenty of many, small, local and regional ISP's who are willing to do whatever it takes to work with the content providers. All that's required is some network, a half-decent data centre and an exchange point. Gone are the days where customers clamored to sign up with Big Telco.
Speaking as one of those smaller ISPs willing to do whatever it takes, perhaps you could answer me this riddle..... - PoP in one of your "half-decent data centres" ... tick. - Connnection to one of your "exchange point" ... tick. - $certain_large_cdn present on said "exchange point" ... tick. And yet ..... - $certain_large_cdn publishes routes on route server ? Nope. - $certain_large_cdn willing to establish direct peering session ? Nope. I am well aware of the "big boys club" that operates at most exchanges where the large networks see it beneath them to peer with (or publish routes for the benefit of) the unwashed masses. But I struggle to comprehend why $certain_large_cdn would effectively cut off their nose to spite their face ?