Comcast said it will collaborate with BitTorrent Inc., the company founded by the creator of the peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol, to come up with better ways to transport large files over the Internet instead of delaying file transfers.
Since user reports of interference with file-sharing traffic were confirmed by an Associated Press investigation in October, Comcast has been vigorously defending its practices, most recently at a hearing of the Federal Communications Commission in February.
Consumer and "Net Neutrality" advocates have been equally vigorous in their attacks on the company, saying that by secretly blocking some connections between file-sharing computers, Comcast made itself a judge and gatekeeper for the Internet.
They also accused Comcast of stifling delivery of Internet video, an emerging competitor to the core business of the nation's largest cable operator.
It was not immediately clear what effect, if any, the move will have on the FCC's ongoing probe, but Net Neutrality groups remained skeptical.
"This deal is the direct result of public pressure, and the threat of FCC action, against Comcast," said Marvin Ammori, general counsel of Free Press, a media reform group. "But with Comcast's history of broken promises and record of deception, we can't just take their word that the Internet is now in safe hands."
Shares in Comcast rose 29 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $20 in midday trading Thursday.
Comcast has said that its practices were necessary to keep file-sharing traffic from overwhelming local cable lines, where neighbors share capacity with one another.
On Thursday, Comcast said that by year's end, it will no longer target files based on the type of protocol used, such as BitTorrent's, and will instead explore alternatives.
"The outcome will be a traffic management technique that is more appropriate for today's emerging Internet trends," Tony Werner, Comcast's chief technology officer, said in a statement.
One option is to delay file transfers for the heaviest downloaders, regardless of protocol, the Philadelphia-based company said.
Comcast said it also was monitoring Time Warner Cable Inc.'s experiment in placing explicit caps on the monthly downloads for new customers in Beaumont, Texas. Subscribers who go over their allotment will pay extra, much like a cell-phone subscriber who uses too many minutes in a month.
But Comcast may be wary about charging certain users more because of competitive pressure, especially after rival Verizon Communications Inc. said recently that such traffic is legitimate and that its FiOS network can handle the flow, said Harold Feld of Media Access Project, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
Comcast has been hampering the BitTorrent file-sharing protocol, which together with the eDonkey protocol, accounts for about a third of all Internet traffic, according to figures from Arbor Networks. The vast majority of that is illegal sharing of copyright-protected files, but file-sharing is also emerging as a low-cost way of distributing legal content -- in particular, video.
On Thursday, Werner all but embraced peer-to-peer file transfers, saying the techniques have "matured as an enabler for legal content distribution."
The company initially veiled its traffic-management system in secrecy, saying openness would allow users to circumvent it. Werner said the company now would "publish" the new technique and take into account feedback from the Internet community.
Comcast and BitTorrent said they want to work out network management issues privately, without the need for government intervention.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell agreed as much, saying in a statement that "the private sector is the best forum to resolve such disputes."
For its part, BitTorrent acknowledged that service providers have to manage their networks somehow, especially during peak times.
"While we think there were other management techniques that could have been deployed, we understand why Comcast and other ISPs adopted the approach that they did initially," Eric Klinker, BitTorrent's chief technology officer, said in a statement.
Comcast also said that the issue is larger than BitTorrent. It said it was in talks with other parties to find solution, although the cable company might not have much of a choice.
Verizon recently announced that by sharing information with Pando Networks, another file-sharing company, Verizon was able to speed up file-sharing downloads for its subscribers while reducing the strain on its own network. AT&T Inc. has been looking at similar collaboration.
However, phone companies are in a better position than cable companies to deal with file-sharing traffic, since neighbors don't share capacity on phone lines.
Associated Press Business Writer Barbara Ortutay and Technology Writer Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this story.
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