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Netflix has agreed to pay Verizon to ensure its video streams receive priority over the ISPs network.

It comes amid growing concern over ISPs plans to throttle high-bandwidth services such as Netflix - and claims from Netflix boss Reed Hastings that payments are an 'arbitrary tax'.

The deal comes just weeks after a similar agreement with Comcast was revealed.

Fair deal? Users of the streaming video service Netflix get a much better experience if Comcast provides their internet

Netflix most recent speed chart, showing a big increase for Comcast since a deal was signed - and Verizon languishing in the middle of the table.

According to a brief statement, from Netflix, 'We have reached an interconnect arrangement with Verizon that we hope will improve performance for our joint customers over the coming months.'

The deal has already paid off for Comcast subscribers, and recent figures show Netflix's videos are streaming through Comcast's Internet service at their highest speeds in 17 months.

However, the deal also intesifies debate over whether the Federal Communications Commission should draw up new rules to ensure that all online content providers are treated the same by Internet service providers.

The equal-treatment doctrine, known as net neutrality, has become a thornier topic since January when a federal appeals court overturned the FCC's regulations on the issue.

Hastings recently called interconnection fees an 'arbitrary tax' that the company would pay in certain cases to protect its customers' experience.

'Instead, they must provide sufficient access to their network without charge,' Hastings wrote on the Netflix blog.

He said free interconnection was key to ensuring 'net neutrality,' which requires that internet providers treat data from different content companies equally.

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He accused firms of bullying.

'Some big ISPs are extracting a toll because they can - they effectively control access to millions of consumers and are willing to sacrifice the interests of their own customers to press Netflix and others to pay,' he wrote in the blog post.

'Though they have the scale and power to do this, they should realize it is in their long term interest to back strong net neutrality.

Net neutrality is also drawing more attention as Comcast tries to gain approval of its proposed $45 billion purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc., another large Internet service provider.

As the world's largest Internet video subscription service, Netflix has long supported net neutrality as a way to prevent online service providers from giving better treatment to websites willing to pay additional fees for the privilege.

Netflix previously had been paying third-party vendors such as Cogent Communications Group Inc. and Akamai Technologies Inc. to deliver its content to Comcast.

Some analysts suspect Netflix may be saving money by paying ISPs directly instead of the vendors, but the specifics remain unknown as part of a confidentiality agreement.

Net prejudice? Critics say the deal struck between the two companies is unfair to other internet providers and the people who use them

Higher streaming speeds allow users to watch higher-quality video and translate to fewer interruptions in the picture.

That's good news for Netflix because higher-quality video should please many of its 33 million U.S. subscribers who pay $8 per month for the company's video streaming service.

Comcast and other broadband providers contend Netflix's growing popularity should require the company to shoulder some of the financial burden for delivering its video. In evening hours, Netflix's

U.S. subscribers generate nearly a third of the Internet's downloading activity, according to the research firm.

By early this year, Comcast's streaming of Netflix video had slowed to the point that Hastings felt compelled to work more directly with Comcast to retain his company's subscribers.

The better access that Netflix is getting from Comcast is known as 'interconnection,' a term referring to digital content's journey to an Internet service provider's gates.

That path technically isn't covered by the current definition of Net neutrality, which refers to how service providers treat digital content once it's inside the gates.

Comcast has promised to honor the previous rules governing Net neutrality through 2018.

Google's YouTube video site and many other websites were paying interconnection fees to Comcast before Netflix struck its own deal with the carrier.