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The FCC is Waging War on Over-Priced Cable Boxes

The FCC is moving forward with a plan it hopes will put an end to overpriced cable set top box rental fees. A new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (pdf) outlined today aims to finally bring some much-needed competition to the cable set top box market. The proposal aims to create uniform rules for this hardware and software, ultimately giving the consumers the option of a variety of better, cheaper TV set top boxes.

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The FCC notes that 99% of pay-TV subscribers are chained to their set-top boxes because cable and satellite operators have locked up the market.

"Lack of competition has meant few choices and high prices for consumers – on average, $231 in rental fees annually for the average American household," notes the FCC. "Altogether, U.S. consumers spend $20 billion a year to lease these devices. Since 1994, according to a recent analysis, the cost of cable set-top boxes has risen 185 percent while the cost of computers, televisions and mobile phones has dropped by 90 percent."

Of course this isn't the FCC's first attempt at imposing set top box competition.

Set top box competition was supposed to have been created by the FCC's CableCARD initiative. But this effort was scuttled after regulators passed problematic rules they then failed to enforce, while to protect set top box revenues and control, operators rarely advertised the technology and made installations frequently nightmarish and expensive. When CableCARD stats reflected this sabotage, the cable industry then consistently shrugged and incorrectly proclaimed consumers just weren't interested.

With billions in revenue at risk, cable providers are again trying to scuttle the FCC's new initiative before it can get off the ground, telling the Wall Street Journal such a move would threaten consumer privacy:
quote:
They also warn that tech companies could gain unfair access to valuable consumer data—such as which channels they watch and when—and sell their own ads against the programming. Cable companies say they operate under stricter privacy standards.
And by "unfair," the cable industry means it's annoyed that the viewer data they sell would be made available to other companies like Google and TiVo, and the billions in fees for often painfully-outdated hardware they charge would ultimately disappear as consumers run to cheaper, better hardware (or ultimately, no set top box at all).

Most recommended from 83 comments



Pisgah Rider
join:2004-04-08
Inman, SC

40 recommendations

Pisgah Rider

Member

I remember the days...

when you could plug the cable into your cable ready tv & get all the channels(except for HBO) without a box.

I miss those days...

weaseled386
join:2008-04-13
Edgewater, FL

10 recommendations

weaseled386

Member

Fun fact...

.... Brighthouse charges customers $8 for the POS pictured. The same they charge customers that have the latest and greatest Cisco/Samsung HD box. Are both getting the same experience? I think not.
ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

10 recommendations

ke4pym

Premium Member

I love my Tivo.

It is a joy to use. I can use Netflix, Plex, Pandora, iHeartRadio and Amazon services all on one box.

I wish the SDV adapter would work a little better.

ropeguru
Premium Member
join:2001-01-25
Mechanicsville, VA

10 recommendations

ropeguru

Premium Member

Apparently everyone has forgotten...

About when Ma Bell was busted back for forced rental of telephones and them being the only one's allowed to sell them and hook to their system.

Funny how soon people forget!!

VegasMan
Living the Vegas life.
Premium Member
join:2002-11-17
Las Vegas, NV

10 recommendations

VegasMan

Premium Member

Free boxes for all

Comcast statement today "We'll give everybody a free box."
Comcast statement tomorrow "Due to rising carriage fees we have to increase all plans by $25/mo"

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

10 recommendations

fonzbear2000

Premium Member

It doesn't matter...

Providers will just raise your bill in other ways to make up for theses fees.

caster
@sysvana.com

8 recommendations

caster

Anon

rules need to cover IPTV and SAT + systems with forced gateways + outlet fee

rules need to cover IPTV and SAT + systems with forced gateways + outlet fees + mirroring fees + TV fees etc.
smk11
join:2014-11-12

5 recommendations

smk11

Member

Big fish: ISP IPTV services are still cap exempt

No need for new rules. Just enforce net neutrality. Any and all data traversing the last mile will be counted against any enforced caps. Netflix, hulu, amazon, and more importantly new providers now have level footing with ISP owned IPTV. The problem just fixes itself.

Kramer
Mod
join:2000-08-03
Richmond, VA

2 recommendations

Kramer

Mod

Good New York Times article

»www.nytimes.com/2016/01/ ··· tml?_r=0

While I strongly support competition in the set-top box market, the cable industry does have one concern that I think is warranted to a degree. They are worried that the new industry created would exercise a man in the middle attack on the revenue cable companies receive from advertising. I guess they are afraid that Google will inject advertising and replace the advertising that is sold by the cable companies. That worry could be simply wiped away by a rule preventing any set-top box manufacturer from replacing the advertising content of live stream video .

What really bothers me about the cable industry's resistance is that we already fought this war and supposedly negotiated an end to it. Cable made Cablecard so difficult to manage and ineffectual that the technology really never caught on. Why should we believe anything they say now? The heck with them. They weren't honest the first time, so virtually anything they say now should be ignored. Good for the FCC.

gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

2 recommendations

gigahurtz

Premium Member

I got rid of all my ridiculous set top box fees

I cut the TV cord a year ago and haven't looked back. Between Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime (two of which we already had when we had Brighthouse TV) we have all the content we need. A Roku on each TV + those services is a great setup for us. Add Plex for the cherry on top!