Capitalism is mostly fine, but the consumer also has the right to know what they are buying in this system of government. In your scenario of protecting investment, if a cable company is going to slow down service for a competing product such as Netflix then the customer should be informed before they sign up and pay for said service. Otherwise it is a bait and switch. Without Net Neutrality it would be so wide ranging which products could get affected by the service provider that it would be almost impossible for a customer to stay informed about the features that affect them. Also, when there are limited choices in providers such as in utilities some regulation is needed to keep the customer from getting bilked. Power utilities are regulated including prices for this reason. They make a profit and their stocks are usually decent/boring dividend plays but the profit is kept under control for sake of doing business in a necessary monopoly or near monopoly. The government allows steady profit with reasonable controls/regulation.

The internet has become much more a part of people's lives than most realize. I probably do about 50% of my non-food-item shopping on Amazon alone. It has been reported that the majority of people in the US are now using the internet to pay their bills. There are good reasons the post office has been struggling while UPS has been growing.

I also use the internet all day long because I work at home full-time on a flex schedule.