
GOP asks FCC to kill plan for helping customers avoid cable box rentals - dvdhnt
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/house-republicans-seek-permanent-end-of-fccs-set-top-box-reform-plan/
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scarface74
I never thought that forcing cable companies to create apps for other devices
was right. Forcing a company to develop software felt wrong.

The issue is not that cable companies have a monopoly on delivering live tv to
consumers. A consumer can get live tv from Sling, PS Vue, DirectTv Now and
soon Hulu. They can purchase a $59 Roku stick for each tv and get all of the
channels they want over the internet.

The real issue is lack of competition when it comes to delivering internet
that allows the cable company to have unreasonable data caps. There are also
plenty of states that are passing laws that won't let cities build their own
internet service. If more people had access to reasonable data limits they
wouldn't need cable or the Sergio boxes.

Luckily, I live in area served by Comcast and AT&T. I pay $70 a month for
symmetrical 1Gbps internet and my house is wired for Gig E. I subscribed to
Hulu, Sling, CBS All Access, Netflix (which I had when I had cable) and Amazon
Prime. I also have a Plex Server. All six of our TVs have either Roku boxes or
AppleTVs.

If I had cable, I would be paying $50 extra per month just for box rentals and
that doesn't include another $25 in HD Technology fees, Sports Access Fees,
Network Access Fees, and other fees.

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alphabettsy
They were going to be required to essentially provide an API. It said nothing
about forcing them to create client apps.

"The original plan would have required pay-TV providers to make video
programming available to the makers of third-party devices and software
without the need for a CableCard."

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spectrum1234
Good news. What in the world is the government doing in the cable box
business?

~~~
wmf
Trying to protect people (does Google count as people?) from shitty
monopolies. Not that it had a chance of working after the previous N attempts
failed.

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tracker1
That was kind of my first thought... cablecard sucked so badly, most of the
devices to make it more usable didn't work with restricted content, and in the
end it failed.

All I could see happening is a weird convoluted standard that was so full of
holes that even supporting various cable providers wouldn't allow much more
freedom and would fail in the end. As much as I'd like to see a singular pvr
option to rule them all rise up, I don't think I'd be happy with it even then.

I still find it far easier to pay the cable/netflix etc tax (guilt, you know),
and just torrent almost everything I watch.

~~~
alphabettsy
I think you mean major companies support of cablecard sucked so badly because
they wanted it to fail. I actually had a TiVo with CableCard and it wasn't
awesome, just didn't support on-demand.

~~~
tracker1
I tried it, so many channels (pretty much all HD) were tagged cannot record,
so I returned the cablecard the next day.

~~~
alphabettsy
I had issues with several channels, but overall loved TiVo at that point. The
cable companies purposely crippled CableCard though, and crap like that is why
we need consumer protection groups.

~~~
tracker1
The issue is, that the proposed plan, like tfa and cablecard come from govt
requirements... I don't see the plan in the article necessarily working out
better for the consumers.

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SturgeonsLaw
> "Without a clear indication that the Commission rejects this current
> proposal, content creators will be hesitant to invest in high-quality video
> programs," they wrote to Pai

Well if they're not willing to produce quality content, the Netflixes of the
world will. Feel free to keep digging your own grave, cable companies.

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jstewartmobile
I know a lot of older people who will continue to be hyperconsumers until
their dying day. They are in constant battles with the cable/phone/etc.
companies over fine-print terms they signed without reading. They are also
overwhelmingly pro-Trump republicans.

I fully expect all of them to be burned by this at some point in time, and I
also expect about half of them to _still_ find some way to blame it on Obama--
even in the year 2020!

I'd also like to second spectrum1234's comment. None of those things are
really necessities. There are not enough hours in the day or enough gold in
the world to sustain a government that attempts to protect people from their
own stupidity.

