http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/...bles-Stranglehold-Over-the-Set-Top-Box-136326
Annoying the cable industry to no end, the FCC today voted 3-2 along partisan lines to begin dismantling the cable industry's stranglehold over the uncompetitive cable set top box market. 99% of pay TV consumers pay $231 annually for clunky, often-outdated cable boxes that are usually not worth half of that. The FCC is imagining a future where -- like cable modems -- customers have their choice from a number of first and third party set top box options at lower prices and with better quality -- thanks to competition.
So under the FCC's new proposal, cable providers would be required to provide third party set top box vendors access to their existing programming lineups -- without the need for a CableCARD.
Note that this morning's vote effectively just cements a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that won't be made public and formally voted on until this Spring. After that, cable operators will have two years to adopt the new policy.
With $20 billion in captive revenue at stake, the cable industry has been engaged in a mammoth hissy fit over the last few weeks, claiming the proposal will hurt innovation, puppies, consumer privacy, and even minorities.
FCC boss Tom Wheeler brushed aside these complaints this morning as "red herrings" being pushed by an industry worried about lost revenue -- and the likely truth that greater access to third party options would only accelerate the industry's over-arching shift toward Internet video. His goal, Wheeler said, was to use competition to drive down costs and improve the quality of the traditional cable box.
"This is not complex," Wheeler said of the FCC's proposal," adding that the 1996 Telecom Act "explicitly instructed us to assure that there are competitive information devices, be it a box or an app.” "The law mandates it, technology allows it, the industry at one time proposed something similar to it, and consumers deserve a break and a choice."
Annoying the cable industry to no end, the FCC today voted 3-2 along partisan lines to begin dismantling the cable industry's stranglehold over the uncompetitive cable set top box market. 99% of pay TV consumers pay $231 annually for clunky, often-outdated cable boxes that are usually not worth half of that. The FCC is imagining a future where -- like cable modems -- customers have their choice from a number of first and third party set top box options at lower prices and with better quality -- thanks to competition.
So under the FCC's new proposal, cable providers would be required to provide third party set top box vendors access to their existing programming lineups -- without the need for a CableCARD.
Note that this morning's vote effectively just cements a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that won't be made public and formally voted on until this Spring. After that, cable operators will have two years to adopt the new policy.
With $20 billion in captive revenue at stake, the cable industry has been engaged in a mammoth hissy fit over the last few weeks, claiming the proposal will hurt innovation, puppies, consumer privacy, and even minorities.
FCC boss Tom Wheeler brushed aside these complaints this morning as "red herrings" being pushed by an industry worried about lost revenue -- and the likely truth that greater access to third party options would only accelerate the industry's over-arching shift toward Internet video. His goal, Wheeler said, was to use competition to drive down costs and improve the quality of the traditional cable box.
"This is not complex," Wheeler said of the FCC's proposal," adding that the 1996 Telecom Act "explicitly instructed us to assure that there are competitive information devices, be it a box or an app.” "The law mandates it, technology allows it, the industry at one time proposed something similar to it, and consumers deserve a break and a choice."
