Companies have been more keen in cutting the cord and provide services through the virtual world.
For instance, TechNews has revealed that T-Mobile will be allowing their consumers to "stream unlimited amounts of video from select partners without having those streams count against their data limits starting this Sunday."
CEO John Legere said that once launched T-Mobile mobile data users will have access to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, and SlingTV, among others.
On the other hand, regardless of this great news, the Federal Communications Commission wants to know why some are not available online. It can be recalled that the FCC past the Open Internet Order last year. This order "bans providers from discriminating against certain types of Internet traffic."
"The record in the Open Internet proceeding reflected both benefits from/concerns about zero-rating, so we didn't ban such plans but will look at them case-by-case and act as necessary," FCC spokesperson Mark Wigfield said.
Cutting the cord would have a negative effect on cable providers - even if most of these providers have also proceeded to providing Internet connections. Investigations are being conducted by FCC. They commission inspecting the contracts between cable providers and cable networks. They are trying to find out whether contracts made between these providers make it harder for networks to put their content online, Wall Street Journal reported.
"Bringing TV to the web isn't as simple as getting the cable companies to loosen their contracts. Cable networks have also played a role in keeping their content off the web," technology and telecommunications industry analyst Jan Dawson said.
Wired reports that networks prefer to offer these channels in bundles, making it more complicated for cable providers to offer cheaper "skinny bundles." This, in return, has made it complex for companies like Apple to launch online TV services. "It's not just a one-way street," Dawson said. "All the incumbent players have strong incentives to try to preserve the status quo, which generally serves them well."
