Virgin Media looks set to give net neutrality, the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, a run for its money in mid-2009 when they revamp their broadband policies to potentially restrict specific applications like Bittorrent (P2P).

The operator hinted at such a move yesterday when it suggested that broadcasters might be asked to pay to have their content delivered across is fibre-optic network. BT is understood to have similar plans for their recently announced 'Project Canvas' IPTV service and Tiscali is often seen to express support for such an idea.

Virgin Media's CEO, Neil Berkett, is reported to have confirmed its ambitions with The Register in which he claimed the situation to be a matter of "fairness". However a statement issued in response to further queries was less specific:


Likewise it was also hinted that the cable operator’s new 50Mbps package, which launched yesterday without traffic management restrictions, might find new limits being imposed further down the line next year - once take-up had improved.

However Virgin Media could face heavy criticism if it did choose to adopt such a system, especially after rumours that it had plans to do so were strongly denied during the summer (original news):


We suspect that anybody paying £51 per month for a 50Mbps broadband service would be less than pleased with the idea of seeing new restrictions imposed. After all, you don’t pay that much money for a service if all you intend to do is browse websites and read your e-mail.

These days P2P is heavily integrated into many legitimate games and video services. Customers would rightly expect their ISP to offer flexibility and fair access to all legal applications and uses, not just those deemed by the provider to be allowable.