

Tech Transitions, Video, and the Future - sstanfie
https://www.fcc.gov/blog/tech-transitions-video-and-future

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trose
This is fantastic. Consumers have been showing for a long time now that they
desire better access to cable tv content. Hopefully the cable companies don't
abuse their power as ISPs to limit competition online.

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vonklaus
While on the surface this seems positive, I am gravely concerned. When you
change the rules to allow OTT transmissions it is possible that this could
further solidify FCC control. Claimimg the imternet itself is public airwaves
and that it has sole regulatory authority over the matter. Need to learn more
than a simple blog post to have the information. Hopefully this is just
cynicism, however the FCC has never been a friend. I will beleive it has
changed when it allows broadband competition (actual infrastructure
development) and unfettered access to the WWW.

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smutticus
This is just the commissioner starting a process to identify rules. This is
the beginning of a long process to try and figure something out about OTT
content.

"Specifically, I am asking the Commission to start a rulemaking proceeding in
which we would modernize our interpretation of the term “multichannel video
programming distributor” (MVPD) so that it is technology-neutral."

If you have opinions about what kinds of rules should be developed, then send
them a comment.

I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say "solidify FCC control." The
Internet is of course a global network, but the FCC already has tremendous
regulatory authority over the Internet in the USA. They don't exercise much of
that authority, and that's largely what the network neutrality debate is
about.

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jobu
While I'm happy this may finally allow me to watch live sports over the
Internet, it sucks that they're limiting it to "linear programming".

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DonGateley
In the context of the internet it isn't clear what "linear programming" even
means. The concept requires the notion of a channel and what is that for the
internet, a URL?

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MBCook
That's an odd argument. First its a government term and second it's right in
the article:

> So-called linear channels, which offer the viewer a prescheduled lineup of
> programs, have been the largely exclusive purview of over-the-air
> broadcasting, cable, and satellite TV.

People still do this. Isn't this a perfect description of if someone says that
my Twitch stream will be showing me playing again between 4 and 5 PM?

I thought we had decided that adding "on the Internet" doesn't fundamentally
change things. Why would it here?

Just because people want to watch what they want when doesn't mean the FCC
should automatically force everyone to put all shows up on-demand _on the
Internet_.

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DonGateley
Without the snide I would have appreciated that clarification.

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stevengg
Sounds more like the FCC wants to regulate the internet

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thedudemabry
While I was very pleasantly surprised as I read the letter, I had this
fleeting thought as well. But although the FCC has been an occasional nuisance
in the last 25 years, they naively seem to me to have been a generally good
force in broadcast competition.

