FCC Wants to Shake Up Cable Companies

General Discussion
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using our consoles as set tops and not paying the fees? Sign me up.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed new rules that could change the cable TV landscape.

Mashable reports that the FCC has voted for proposed rules that would require cable companies to provide information like channel and on-demand listings to other companies. If approved, your cable subscription would no longer be tied to a set top box provided by the cable company. Instead, it could be accessed through devices like Apple TV, Android TV, and Roku, or even game consoles.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TomWheelerFCC

If the rules are adopted, cable subscribers would get more competition for their set top boxes, likely leading to lower prices. Following the vote, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler tweeted that increased competition is exactly what the FCC is trying to bring about.

The change won’t come about immediately, though. The new rules will now go through a comment period, followed by an official vote for adoption. That vote will have to overcome tough lobbying from the cable industry, after what was already a close 3-2 vote simply to adopt the proposal. Finally, assuming the new rules are put in place, it will take time for companies like Apple and Roku to integrate the cable services in their set top boxes.

6 Likes
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So I have a question. What does this mean exactly. If its just that I can get twc service without having to rent a cable box that is cool, but not much of an impact. But if I can get say Comcast in area which is not normally serviced by Comcast than that is huge. The former is what I hope is true and will make a severe impact on the market and competition.

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Yeah the non cable box issue I already use. Two of our bedrooms do not have cable boxes but I use the Charter app on Rokus to stream live tv in there. And I circumvent the other two locations in the house with a cable card for my TiVo Roamio and TiVo Mini.

What the industry needs is true competition. A cable company entrenched in your area will say direct tv is competition but for people like me with a ton of trees on my property it’s not.