December 4, 2009, 12:58 pm F.C.C. May Pry Open the Cable Set-Top Box By SAUL HANSELL NY Times
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/watch-out-comcast-the-fcc-may-not-let-you-favor-nbc/ Officially, Julius Genachowski had only a terse one-sentence statement about Comcast’s proposed acquisition of NBC on Monday. It said: “The FCC will carefully examine the proposed merger and will be thorough, fair and fact-based in its review.” But a relatively obscure rule-making notice, also issued Monday, is warning the industry that the commission under Mr. Genachowski may well break up the cozy relationship between TV networks and cable systems, merger or not. Specifically, the commission wants to make it much easier for anyone who makes a video program to send it directly to your television set, without having to cut a deal with a cable company. That was the implication of a five-page document titled “Comment sought on video device innovation” that appeared on the commission Web site. Technically, it relates to one of the commission’s most ineffectual areas of regulation: cable set-top boxes. In 1996, Congress ordered the commission to create rules that would let people buy “navigation devices” — in other words, set-top boxes, remote controls and other gizmos that change channels on your TV — from a consumer electronics company rather than just from their cable company. The idea was there would be a standard so that any set-top box would work in any cable system. The last time you went to Best Buy, did you see any cable boxes? I didn’t think so. The reason for that is the subject of a debate. Electronics companies say the cable systems have dragged their feet for a decade in supporting open technical specifications. The cable companies say they have standards, but consumers would rather rent boxes for a few dollars a month than spend hundreds up front. In any case, the commission’s inquiry skips past this annoying argument to point out that the real question today is how TVs will connect not only to cable and satellite services but also to video provided directly over the Internet. The commission points out that people are watching much more online video from sites like Hulu, Netflix and YouTube, and they are buying gadgets that can put those programs on their television from companies like Apple, TiVo, and Roku. Very little of that Internet video, however, comes through boxes that cable or satellite companies provide. The commission asks four rather provocative questions, that I’ll do my best to translate into English here: * Why can’t that box you get from your cable company also get programs over the Internet and from other sources? * Would the availability of set-top boxes in retail stores encourage people to get broadband Internet service (something the commission wants to do) and create a competitive market in devices that hook up to cable systems? * Should the commission mandate a technical standard that would let video flow freely around a home to any compatible device, just as the Wi-Fi standard allows any computer to hook up to your Internet connection? * What has stopped the long-promised convergence between televisions and computers? The words “network neutrality” don’t appear anywhere in the commission’s notice, but the rules it is asking about are exactly the sort that many in the communications industry fear as the commission pushes net neutrality principles. The commission is suggesting that since cable TV shows are fundamentally no different from any other data sent over the Internet, they might well be offered through the sort of open standards we are used to for computers, not the closed systems of cable companies. In other words, there is no reason that the company that runs a wire to your house (say, Comcast) should have any special right to sell you a bundle of programming that goes over the wire (say, a bunch of NBC networks). The cable companies no doubt will argue that the market is working fine and that new rules will stifle innovation and keep them from earning enough money to keep investing in their networks. Companies that just make programs are likely to be more muted. The cable companies are their biggest revenue streams today. But they are also intrigued by the idea of connecting directly to their customers and cutting out the middlemen. (That is, those companies that didn’t just agree to be sold to a middleman.) In any case, expect these arguments to hit like a tornado. The commission has allowed less than three weeks for comments, which are due Dec. 21. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
