May not mean a thing, but here’s holding my breath this really happens.
I WANT my TV to go through a Mac, I want to be able to save the items I deem
worthy..on the Cable company’s box it requires other equipment to get this
done….why?
We’ll see, on the surface it’s a step in the right direction.
Tue, Feb 9, 2016, 6:19pm EST - US Markets are closed
FCC plan to unlock the set-top box may be too little, too late
A new Federal Communications Commission proposal to "unlock the cable box" is
receiving the kind of hype and adulation usually reserved for royal weddings
and rocket launches.
"Requiring cable-TV systems to make room for competing devices should similarly
lead to a boom in new types of services and technologies," the New York Times
editorial page opined
<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/opinion/the-fcc-gets-ready-to-unlock-the-cable-box.html?_r=0>,
comparing the plan to the FCC's famed 1968 ruling allowing consumers to
connect their own telephones to Ma Bell's network. "FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
dropped a bomb on the cable television industry," Nilay Patel, co-founder and
editor-in-chief at top tech site
<http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/28/10858658/fcc-unlock-the-box-open-cable-plan>
The Verge, declared.
There is no denying that it is an exciting time for the evolution of
television. And the FCC plan, which hasn't even been adopted as a preliminary
proposal yet, could be another helpful step in the right direction. But the
plan's benefits have been massively exaggerated, even if it works as intended,
which is yet another open question.
First, a quick summary. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is asking his fellow
commissioners to approve a preliminary proposal at the agency's upcoming
meeting on Feb. 18. Under Wheeler's plan, cable companies like Time Warner (TWC
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=twc>) and Comcast (CMCSA
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=cmcsa>) would be required to work with technology
companies like Apple (AAPL <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aapl>), Alphabet's
Google (GOOGL <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=googl>) and others to develop an
open standard for attaching set-top boxes to the cable infrastructure in a
consumer's home.
Once everyone agrees on a standard, which must include privacy and copyright
protections, consumers will be able to choose any compatible device to run
their cable TV service. Cable companies will still be able to offer their own
set-top boxes, along with their usual monthly leasing fees, but they'll be
under more competitive pressure to offer a better experience, at least in
theory. Assuming a majority of the FCC goes along with Wheeler's plan, the
proposal will be issued for public comment and subject to revision before a
final vote in six months or so.
1. Allowing competition for set-top boxes won't change the fundamental
economics of the cable business.
Won't it be great when Apple, Roku and Amazon (AMZN
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=amzn>) can integrate cable channels into their
set-top boxes? Viewers will be able to pick and choose to watch and pay for
whatever they want, drop all the junk no one watches and take control of the
whole experience, right? Well, not exactly.
Actually, the new futuristic set-tops will still have to play by the cable
industry's rules. Nothing in Wheeler's plan makes it any more likely that cable
companies will start breaking up their bundles and offering more channels a la
cart. And despite the threat of cord cutting, the industry remains a financial
powerhouse with about 100 million paying customers, most of whom have little or
no choice for alternative TV service. In fact, with the cable industry helping
set the standards, the new boxes may not even be as flexible and useful as some
boxes currently on the market that aren't cable-compatible.
2. We tried this before and it failed.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act included provisions to unlock the cable box and
the FCC proceeded to create rules requiring the industry to allow third-party
devices onto the network. That time, cable companies were allowed to control
the standards and required compatibility with the dreaded CableCard, a physical
add-in required to make third-party devices compatible. But the cable industry
hobbled the standard and limited the features on CableCard-compatible devices.
In the end, almost no outside companies played along, with Tivo (TIVO
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=tivo>) as the lone surviving exception -- and it
had to license its set-top box software for use in cable companies' own boxes.
3. The future is moving from channels to apps.
Tim Cook had a cute line ready when he introduced the latest Apple TV set-top
box last September. "We believe the future of TV is apps
<http://blogs.wsj.com/personal-technology/2015/09/09/apples-tim-cook-we-believe-the-future-of-tv-is-apps/>,"
he said. He was referring to apps that can run on Apple's box, but cable
channels have spent the past few years racing to offer apps on a bunch of
platforms, including Google's Android system, Microsoft's (MSFT
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=msft>) XBox videogame player and standalone boxes
from Roku.
Some apps mimic the offerings of a single cable channel, others offer a group
of channels not unlike an old-fashioned cable bundle, and some function more
like libraries of old and new shows. Meanwhile, post-cable video services like
Netflix (NFLX <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=nflx>), Amazon's Prime and Google's
YouTube continue to grow. So it's quite possible that the FCC will unlock the
set-top box to cable channels just as cable channels become irrelevant to
set-top boxes.
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