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But before Netflix made a deal with Comcast, would you be making the same request ? Yes. I have an e-mail trail dating back to November of last year in which I attempted to discuss this with Netflix. They were intransigent. They didn't believe that the views of a small ISP from Wyoming were worth considering.

i am not sure that was rubens's question. and i suspect they were looking for the cash not the views. but that aside, when i started in a small area, i was aware of the consequent lack of leverage i would have, business deals are not based just on one party's needs. otoh, 25 years ago it was far easier to supply into a completely unfulfilled market. any measurements of what the cache hit ratios might be in a market such as yours? of course, even 10% is a win if you can get the cost of the cache close to zero. (but what's the financial win there for netflix?) <aside> but you have my sympathies. i doubt i would start a rural isp in the states today, insufficient leverage to get the facilities it would need and too vulnerable to cable and telco. i am also not buying into cattle here in tokyo. :) <aside^2> we are netflix consumers, and tunnel it to tokyo. for us, the content sucks, all mainstream, but japanese movie houses do not subtitle in english. when we were in the states, the dvd service had the long tail, and our tastes are out on that more obscure tail. my guess is that, for streaming, netflix is in a major tussle with the studios. i suspect there is a parallel to this overall discussion. randy