THE LARGEST ISP in the US, which faces charges of throttling P2P traffic, is coming up with a P2P service of its own.

Comcast, which claims that P2P traffic is killing its network, is investing in a start-up that delivers high-definition video using file-sharing.

GridNetworks said that Comcast would make an 'unspecified investment' in the company and will be helping to develop P2P file-sharing techniques that are 'friendly' to ISPs.

Comcast has said that it will stop targeting P2P traffic by the end of the year and said it will talk to file-sharing companies to try to develop mutually acceptable techniques.

However, cynics would say that while it could be seen that the ISP is trying to protect its networks from P2P traffic, the move is more likely to be seen as commercially defensive for its own services.

Comcast, which famously discriminates against different P2P software, could throttle everything except its own software and claim it is still allowing the technology to run on its network. X