FCC plans to unlock set-top boxes

[Winehole23]

Cable TV industry lobby groups expressed their displeasure with a Federal Communications Commission plan to bring competition to the set-top box market, which could help consumers watch TV on different devices and thus avoid paying cable box rental fees.


FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed new rules (http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/in-blow-to-cable-lobby-fcc-wants-tv-to-be-available-on-any-device/) that would force pay-TV companies to give third parties access to TV content, letting hardware makers build better set-top boxes. Customers would be able to watch all the TV channels they're already paying cable companies for, but on a device that they don't have to rent from them. The rules could also bring TV to tablets and other devices without need for a rented set-top box. The system would essentially replace CableCard with a software-based equivalent.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/cable-lobby-is-really-mad-about-fccs-set-top-box-competition-plan/

[Winehole23]

FCC officials dispute these arguments, saying that customers who are happy with the status quo can keep using their current set-top boxes without buying anything else. But those who want could stop renting set-top boxes and instead use different devices, the FCC argues. About 99 percent of customers still rent set-top boxes directly from Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (MVPDs), and pay an average of $231.82 a year in rental fees, for a total of $19.5 billion a year, US senators found (http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/07/cable-tv-box-rental-fees-cost-average-household-232-a-year/) in a survey of pay-TV providers last year last year.


The FCC's proposed rules include copyright protections, so consumers would still only be able to view content that they pay cable companies to access. The FCC also said that device makers and software developers will have to follow consumer privacy rules. The proposal would affect all pay-TV companies, including cable, satellite, and telecom operators.

[boutons_deux]

will competition in set top boxes significantly lower prices?

buying it of course means you pay to replace when it breaks

[ChumpDumper]

Eh, everything seems to be moving to IPTV anyway. Charter/TWC seems to be all in on the "tv anywhere" concept including streaming over Rokus to the point where they are testing Roku-only TV plans in New York. Makes a lot of sense when one considers the maintenance costs of coax in homes over the years alone.

[boutons_deux]

they done went and did it, Repugs voted against, duh

FCC Votes to Dismantle Cable's Monopoy Over The Set Top Box

from the unlock-the-box dept


The FCC voted 3-2 today to begin dismantling the cable industry's long-standing monopoly over ye olde set top cable box.

As noted previously (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160127/11382833447/fcc-takes-aim-pathetic-lack-cable-set-top-box-competition.shtml), the FCC is pushing a proposal that would require cable operators make their programming accessible to third-party set top manufacturers, without requiring the use of a CableCARD.

The goal is to create competition in the set top box market, giving consumers a choice of better and cheaper gear, in the same way consumers can buy their own cable modems.

99% of consumers currently pay about $231 annually in rental fees for hardware that's generally worth about half that much.

As you might expect, the cable industry has been engaged in hysterical, breathless protest (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160128/09440833451/cable-industry-is-absolutely-terrified-set-top-box-competition.shtml) against the FCC's proposal, since it would instantly demolish around $20 billion in captive revenue cable providers enjoy every year.

The industry's also well aware that third-party set tops will be much more likely to include streaming services that compete with cable, accelerating cord cutting as the nation's Luddites suddenly realize they don't need to pay $150 a month for five hundred channels of garbage they don't actually watch.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160218/07380333637/fcc-votes-to-dismantle-cables-monopoly-over-set-top-box.shtml

[boutons_deux]

a big job killer, Wheeler comes from the cable industry, duh, which will certainly pay him extremely well after he leaves FCC

FCC Chairman Just Gave the Nightmare Charter-Time Warner Cable Merger a Thumbs Up (http://gizmodo.com/fcc-chairman-just-gave-the-nightmare-charter-time-warne-1772946096)

In a completely frustrating, but not all that surprising, piece of news, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is recommending that the commission approve Charter Communications’ plan to buy Time Warner. This could make things so much worse (http://gizmodo.com/the-latest-big-cable-consolidation-will-screw-consumers-1706924540).

Wheeler claimed in a statement that the proposal “outlines a number of conditions in place for seven years that will directly benefit consumers by bringing and protecting competition to the video marketplace and increasing broadband deployment.”

So for just seven years, the megacorporation will not be allowed to have data caps or usage-based pricing and cannot charge special fees to heavy traffic providers.

Well thank God the internet and television is only going to exist for seven years. Otherwise, in less than a decade, a giant communications monolith would be legally allowed to do whatever it wanted to crush competition.

Wheeler continued on to say:

If the conditions are approved by my colleagues, an additional two million customer locations will have access to a high-speed connection.

At least one million of those connections will be in competition with another high-speed broadband provider in the market served, bringing innovation and new choices for consumers, and demonstrate the viability of one broadband provider overbuilding another.


In other words, Time Warner Charter (or whatever it chooses to be called) has also promised to acquire two million more customers, and it will do so in some areas where other service providers (Cablevision, probably) already exist. That gives people a grand total of two choices.

This doesn’t “demonstrate the viability of one broadband provider overbuilding another,” it’s just lip service to the idea that these companies don’t have a monopoly on what is a vital service in today’s world.

This is horrible news with horrible consequences (https://slack-redir.net/link?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgizmodo.com%2Fthe-latest-big-cable-consolidation-will-screw-consumers-1706924540).

http://gizmodo.com/fcc-chairman-just-gave-the-nightmare-charter-time-warne-1772946096?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29

[Winehole23]

Eh, everything seems to be moving to IPTV anyway. Charter/TWC seems to be all in on the "tv anywhere" concept including streaming over Rokus to the point where they are testing Roku-only TV plans in New York. Makes a lot of sense when one considers the maintenance costs of coax in homes over the years alone.


Today, the Federal Communications Commission unveiled a proposal that would force pay-TV providers to offer apps that let you bypass set-top-boxes altogether. Instead of plugging a set-top-box into your TV, you could just use cable through a device of your choice, like a Roku, an Xbox, or a Google Chromecast stick. Plus, you could watch on all sorts of other devices, like phones and tablets. If the new proposal passes, you say goodbye to that monthly fee forever.


It may seem a little late to do something about this particular problem, given that analysts say (https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/SNL-Kagan-812000-Users-Cut-The-Cord-Last-Quarter-137779) more people are now cutting the pay TV cord. But there are still tens of millions of people paying for the tube, and the average subscriber pays $231 a year for the things, according to the Federal Communications Commission, and cost the country about $20 billion annually.


Under the FCC’s proposal, providers would be required to develop apps for any device that sold at least 5 million units in the previous year, a senior FCC official said during a press call today. The providers will have control over how the apps work, and how they display and store content. But the FCC will require that the apps provide a comparable experience to viewing TV through a cable box, at least so long as customers are viewing from home. The rules will differ for satellite television providers, which can’t necessarily avoid requiring some sort of set-top-box box, but satellite providers will also be required to offer appshttps://www.wired.com/2016/09/fcc-wants-free-us-cable-boxes/