[nextstep]

I think you are right, and when they frame this new service as "turning your existing Xbox into a set top box", it sounds benign and rational. But I'm afraid of the dangerous precedent that this sets.

TV-style subscription-based services work with users as consumers: the pipes go one-way, because each subscriber is just a dumb set of eyes with a wallet. But with the internet, and new disruptive content models, everyone is also a creator. The real danger of losing net-neutrality is that individuals will become unable create new media for the internet.