Akamai (AKAM) and BigBand (BBND): Bad times for web video providers

Big Band Networks (NASDAQ: BBND) had a bad quarter. The provider of infrastructure for moving video around the internet lost 25% of its value today down to $10.60. It announced a modest $54.5 million in revenue and earnings $.07 a share. An IPO this year, Big Band is now off from a high of $21.63.

LimeLight (NASDAQ: LLNW), a content delivery network that competes with industry leader Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), is off from $24.33 just after its IPO to $16.15. Akamai's stock is down 35% this year. It earnings disappointed investors.

In a related part of the internet infrastructure, Level 3 (NASDAQ: LVLT) came up with flat revenue and lackluster earnings for the last quarter. Its shares went from $6.42 to $4.93 after its announcement. It has recovered a bit since then.

But, there is a trend here. The companies that provide the pipes and pipe parts to get video around the internet should be doing very well during the "YouTube" generation. They are not.

Two things may be happening. The first is the the service providers are in such fierce competition for business in a market that Wall Street views as hot that margins are being compressd by price cuts. The other possibility is that, after two years of extremely rapid expansion, video streaming and consumption is flattening.

An industry that everyone thought would be a big winner turns out to be the opposite.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 247wallst.com.