FCC’s Set-Top Proposal Draws Crowd

By: John Eggerton

Commenters flooded the FCC Friday, the deadline for initial input on chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to “unlock” MVPD set-top box info and share it with third-party navigation devices.

“No demonstrable market problem exists to justify the kind of intrusive tech mandates proposed by the Commission,” said the Free State Foundation. “And it highly doubtful that any conceivable benefit could outweigh the heavy costs that the Commission now ignores – costs which will initially be paid by MVPDs or program content owners, but will ultimately be paid by consumers. The Commission performed no cost-benefit analysis of its proposal prior to its Notice. Nor did it even seek input to conduct such an analysis.”

Agreeing that it was an unnecessary and counterproductive government attempt to enforce tech policy on an innovative space was California tech advocacy group CALinnovates.

“Our analysis found that the FCC’s proposal would result in higher bills,” said CALinnovates executive director Mike Montgomery of the group’s filing. “It is apparent that with this set-top box proposal the FCC is missing the forest for the trees.  Specifically, the Commission obsesses over the size of one ancient, crumbling tree – missing the thriving vegetation sprouting around it.”

The Telecommunications Industry Association, which represents the manufacturers and suppliers of communications networks, was another critic of the proposal. TIA said in its filing that the FCC is operating on the faulty premise that the marketplace is not “replete” with navigation choices. It also says the standards setting provisions “could lead to device incompatibility, and risk pre-determining which technologies will prevail over time, contrary to widely followed standards making protocols.”

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