1) Probably not but it is much more one sided with media streaming. This is why I said that ISPs should be forced to peer for free at the local loop level. But outside of that, they are acting as a transit network.

2) Small ISPs buy transit if they need it. Comcast and Verizon don't because their larger networks acts as a transit for them.

3) Yes they are taking advantage of their size, but they are performing the same service as a transit provider. If Verizon spun off their local ISP network, Cogent would have to pay VerizonT1 to transit to the local ISP.

Why does Verizon owning the transit and local somehow make it unreasonable to ask for payment?

Verizon and Comcast aren't asking for money to accept data, they are asking for money to transit the data for Cogent and L3.