Should Internet providers charge more for premium services?

NY Times takes a moderately supportive position in the matter:

The High-Speed Money Line – New York Times

Are consumers going to start having to spend a lot more to surf the Web?

Phone and cable companies have stoked those fears recently by floating plans that would have Amazon, Yahoo and other Web sites paying new fees to ensure that their content will be delivered to customers faster.

This possibility has raised the prospect that consumers may end up having to pay twice for access to the Internet — once to the phone or cable company that sells them a dial-up or broadband line, and again to Internet companies that pass along new charges for fast access to content from their sites.

Late last year, the Bells proposed to share the burden of upgrading their networks — particularly as big video files, which take up a lot of bandwidth on the networks, become more common — with the companies sending out that data. The plan quickly drew fire from consumer groups, technology companies and lawmakers eager to preserve open access to the Internet and fearful that the Bell companies have too much power.