The FCC recently voted to advance a proposal that would open up the market to competitors to make desk top boxes for TV. In addition, there would be no lease or fee costs for people who purchase a competitor's box. The reason they give is that lease cost in the cable and satellite TV industry have increased an average of 185% and comparable electronic components have actually gone down in price by 90%. This was in an article in Consumer Reports..
Lease prices regulation
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Exactly, the fee obsessed can't seem to realize the fees are just a way to segment the market. If the fees go away, something else will go up. The providers will do what they must to maintain the same overall margins. Folks with four TVs will end up saving, but everybody else goes up $10/month.
Dish has already said they will raise rates $6 a month as soon as the FCC passes this new regulation.
then the FCC will say you must be able to buy the card. And then they will just hit you with a mirroring or outlet fee.
Well, the whole opening of set-top-boxes to consumers of pay-TV from 3rd parties is a ship that has sailed. It aint happening. There was so much acrimony at the many conferences, not the least is having to open up proprietary, closed software to the mercy of weak security on all those devices and companies, but LOTS more disagreement on a number of issues. The report had a deadline, so it had to be written. The FCC knows this is so beyond dead. But this would be consistent with our "hands-off" FCC espoused by the current Administration. In short, the tech has changed and now it is sorting itself out with all those fee free Roku's and FireTV's and the MVPD's (such as Dish's SlingTV as just one example) moving over to those 3rd party boxes anyway. Once again, the market and tech are fixing this.
However, as a fantasy-land exercise, no doubt, as others have posted, the MVPD's would just dream up all sorts of NEW monthly charges, and may even call them "Taxes" as the telcos did: charge people money each month as an itemized "tax" when in truth no such tax existed. BIG DEAL! What a waste of FCC time. Meanwhile our wireless phone services get away with so much flim-flam upon the consumer. The "hands-off" FCC is out to lunch on the real issues and models that fleece all of us.
However, as a fantasy-land exercise, no doubt, as others have posted, the MVPD's would just dream up all sorts of NEW monthly charges, and may even call them "Taxes" as the telcos did: charge people money each month as an itemized "tax" when in truth no such tax existed. BIG DEAL! What a waste of FCC time. Meanwhile our wireless phone services get away with so much flim-flam upon the consumer. The "hands-off" FCC is out to lunch on the real issues and models that fleece all of us.
