FCC approves proposal to boost TV set-top box competition

The measure passed in a 3-2 vote Thursday. The feeds would also be available to developers building applications to access the programming.

Hardware issues Pay-TV operators argue that any new technology mandate imposed on the set-tops they lease to subscribers will inevitably add cost and complexity to the video services business. The 1996 Telecommunications Act “explicitly instructed us to assure that there are competitive information devices, be it a box or an app”. He said Congress made it clear that competition was needed, and the proposal would do that.

“I keep hearing that we shouldn’t worry about privacy because Google will be subject to “similar” rules as cable and satellite, or that they’d be subject to other federal and state rules”, AT&T vice president Stacy Fuller writes today in a blog post. MVPDs say it could be up to seven years before the new regime is in place, while activist groups pushing the proposal says the timeline should be far shorter. He said at the assembled meeting that “consumers have no choice today”, and that the proposed rules did not make major changes for consumers. “And competition is too limited”, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel says.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn predicted that the proposal would lead to a wider set of options for programming, countering critics’ claims that the proposal would reduce minority-focused choices.

Executives suggested the plan would give the manufacturer of the new set-top box model undue power over content and consumer privacy.

The FCC’s move could result in consumers getting pay TV and streaming content via a smart TV, for instance, proponents say. He said that, taken together with reclassifying OTT as MVPDs, as the chairman has proposed, the sharing of device information will have to be a two-way street, with third parties having to share their content with MVPDs.

O’Rielly also called set top boxes “a relic of the past”.

Among Pai’s concerns were what he said could be the adverse impact on programmers, including on diverse programmers. The coalition believes most companies are moving to mobile apps, not a new set-top box, to distribute content on a myriad of new screens. Powell noted that TiVo manufactures and services the only current example of a third-party set-top that works in the pay-TV ecosystem. “Consumers deserve a break and a choice”, he said prior to Thursday’s vote.

Get complete coverage of the FCC’s set-top proposal. And the FCC has gotten some pushback from legislators, Republican and Democrats, who have suggested it needs to vet the issue carefully before taking any final action.

The proposal, which now heads to public comment, will allow consumers to swap out pricey cable boxes for low-priced generic boxes or apps.

Check back later for updates.

On Tuesday, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and 12 other Democratic lawmakers signed a letter in support of the proposal.

About 99% of pay TV customers lease boxes from providers, paying about $20 billion a year. That wasn’t a shocker: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the two other liberal members of the commission have favored the plan since it was announced on January 27.