[Infowarrior] - F.C.C. May Pry Open the Cable Set-Top Box

[Richard Forno]

F.C.C. May Pry Open the Cable Set-Top Box
December 4, 2009, 12:58 pm
By SAUL HANSELL
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’s  
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.