Service providers can change for bandwidth usage, but it could cost them

Bernstein & Co.'s Craig Moffett predicts that pay-TV operators, looking to cash in on America's surging love affair with services like Netflix, Hulu and other bandwidth-dependent operations, may soon institute the oft-discussed, but seldom instituted, charges for bandwidth consumption. Bernstein posited that Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications or Cox Communications is likely to be the first to pull the trigger. AT&T U-verse and Suddenlink Communications have had mixed results in their own trials at measuring usage, but they have decided to push forward with some, for now, pretty generous caps. Canadian cableco Rogers Communications has been successfully charging consumers for usage since 2008. Commentary