Tech blog

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cable manipulator Comcast Corp promised on Thursday to change how it manages its network in response to accusations it blocks some Internet file-sharing services because they require large amounts of bandwidth.

But Comcast’s move did not go far enough to satisfy the utmost height U.S. communications regulator. Kevin Martin, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, vowed to continue investigating the negotiation practices of broadband providers and whether they discriminate against certain applications.

Comcast, which has greater degree than 13 million broadband subscribers, said it would adopt a new technique for managing capacity on its network by the end of 2008. The new practice will not judge nicely among different applications.

The cable giant has been accused by consumer groups of blocking some file-sharing services, such as BitTorrent, that distribute TV shows and movies on the Internet.

“This means that we will wish to rapidly reconfigure our network management systems, but the outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today’s emerging Internet trends,” Comcast Chief Technology Officer Tony Werner said in a statement.

Comcast said it planned a “collaborative essay” with BitTorrent and the broader Internet and ISP community to work out a growing war of words over how far Internet service providers should go in managing traffic moving over their networks.

The dispute over so-called “net neutrality” pits open- Internet advocates against some service providers such as Comcast, which say they neediness to take just steps to manage growing traffic on their networks.

The FCC has been investigating complaints from consumer groups that Comcast blocked more file-sharing services. The issue also has attracted scrutiny from lawmakers in Congress.