> All of their customers will still have to go through middlemen.
Not if they're watching Netflix. As I read the deal, Comcast and Netflix will be directly connected, so if you're a Comcast customer watching Netflix, your packets only traverse Comcast's and Netflix's networks; no third parties are involved.
They do now that a deal has been worked out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/23...