Netflix to pay Comcast for better connection and speed [Update]

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Pretty much every contemporary gaming machine – be it a tablet, smartphone, console, handheld or PC – has the ability to connect to the internet for streaming media content. If you’re using such a device to watch Netflix on a Comcast network, your speed and stability should see a bump in the near future.

Netflix and Comcast have announced a new joint partnership in which Netflix will pay the internet and cable service provider for direct access to its broadband systems. Netflix previously worked with a middleman company called Cogent through which they bought their bandwidth, but now that company has been cut out of future proceedings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal was originally struck in January, but it wasn’t until today that the companies released a joint statement confirming the new relationship. January was also when a Washington, DC appeals court voided the anti-blocking and anti-discrimination rules that the FCC used to enforce net neutrality, which you can read more about thanks to our friends at Engadget.

Update: To clarify, although the net neutrality ruling and Netflix/Comcast deal both occurred in January, the two are separate affairs. The Netflix/Comcast deal is a paid peering agreement securing Netflix’s access to Comcast’s network, but the deal does not grant them preferential access.

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