Cable lobby is really mad about FCC's set-top box competition plan
http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/cable-lobby-is-really-mad-about-fccs-set-top-box-competition-plan/
Cable TV industry lobby groups expressed their displeasure with
a Federal Communications Commission plan to bring competition to
the set-top box market, which could help consumers watch TV on
different devices and thus avoid paying cable box rental fees.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed new rules that would force
pay-TV companies to give third parties access to TV content,
letting hardware makers build better set-top boxes. Customers
would be able to watch all the TV channels they're already
paying cable companies for, but on a device that they don't have
to rent from them. The rules could also bring TV to tablets and
other devices without need for a rented set-top box. The system
would essentially replace CableCard with a software-based
equivalent.
- - -
It's worth noting that some of the most absolutely worst, abysmal,
sickeningly unusable and horrifically "engineered" software resides on
the traditional cable set top boxes most cable companies use. And
CableCARDS seem to have been purposely designed to be as painful and
inconvenient for subscribers as possible. So it's no wonder the dominant
cable companies love them both.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently
doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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