Proposal would ease requirement for set-top box rentals
Set-top box rentals - a major profit center for cable and satellite TV companies and sore point with consumers - may finally be going the way of "Ma Bell" compulsory phone rentals. (Remember them?)
Set-top box rentals - a major profit center for cable and satellite TV companies and sore point with consumers - may finally be going the way of "Ma Bell" compulsory phone rentals. (Remember them?)
That's if Federal Communications Commissioner Thomas Wheeler's proposal to "unlock the box" wins favor from his fellow commissioners.
Wheeler's proposal, set for full FCC vote Feb. 18, aims to pave the way for "software, devices, and other innovative solutions to compete with the channel-tuning boxes that a majority of consumers lease today."
Wheeler's move prompted quick response from the cable TV industry, which argued that the commissioner's demands already are being met . . . to a degree.
Consumers will watch the matter closely. Today, the average rental charge for a set-top box is $7.43 per month, the FCC said. That's "an increase of 185 percent since 1994 and more than three times the increase in the Consumer Price Index in the same period."
There is already an FCC-mandated set-top box alternative "solution," but it's clunky and unpopular - a workaround that requires users to rent (from the cable company) and install a "Cable Card" in their alternately sourced receiver (such as a TiVo). The new scheme would use a software-driven app or interface. It could be installed on a smart TV, tablet, or store-bought set-top box, and theoretically could be upgraded as new features are added.
The interface would enable both two-way communications (not possible with Cable Card) for advanced guide and pay-per-view access as well as digital video recording on the purchased (not rented) device. At present, activation of DVR functionality often costs pay TV customers several extra dollars per month, over and above the box rental.
Wheeler's proposal also would enable independent makers of receiver boxes and apps to merge a subscriber's cable/satellite channel package with content and information from Internet TV sources. So "over the top" Web services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Sling TV would pop up on the same guide, putting all on an equal playing field.
In response, the cable industry-backed Future of TV Coalition said that the opening of pay-TV services to "third party devices" is already occurring (though to a limited degree) in the form of "multiscreen apps" - a.k.a. "TV Everywhere."
Going a step further, Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Rob Marcus noted his company is now testing "Internet protocol" delivery of channels (up to 72) to New York City subscribers through a Roku 3 Web TV player. "It eliminates the need for a leased set-top box."
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