#67: Killing the Cable Box

Tech Policy Podcast

TechFreedom

Technology

4.8 • 45 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2016

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The FCC wants to “unlock” the cable box. But shouldn’t the agency be helping to kill the box? The FCC recently proposed rules that would force cable, satellite, and telco video providers to make their programming accessible through third-party apps. Sure, it sounds great in theory, but the proposal poses serious concerns around privacy, piracy, and the way that independent and minority-owned programmers present their content. Moreover, the video industry is already moving away from clunky, costly boxes and offering programming through their own apps on devices like Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast. Just last week, Comcast announced that its entire X1 interface would be available through an app. In the Golden Age of Television, what exactly is the FCC trying to solve? Is having too many apps and remotes really a national emergency? For more, see our press release and comments, which explains why the FCC’s proposal is doomed to fail in court.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast.
0:09.1	I'm Evan Schwarger, your host.
0:11.2	On today's show, the FCC looks to unlock the cable box, but shouldn't the agency just kill the box or let it die?
0:19.3	Joining me to discuss this is someone who has about as much charisma as a cable box himself,
0:23.6	Baron Soka, President of Tech Freedom.
0:25.4	Barron, thank you for joining me.
0:26.6	Pot calling the kettle black there, Evan.
0:29.2	So let's get into it.
0:30.6	We've talked about this on the show before, but just to bring listeners up to speed who did not hear our previous episode on this,
0:36.0	what exactly is the FCC proposing when it says
0:39.8	unlock the box? Right. So the box is the cable box or the box that you have for your satellite
0:47.0	service or if you have Verizon Fios. It's whatever that thing is that intermediates between the network
0:53.2	and your television.
0:55.5	And there are some people who have multiple boxes and who are leasing them and who are angry about
1:00.7	having to do that. So it's understandable that people feel that the box should die or they
1:07.1	want the box to be unlocked or they want something to happen.
1:15.9	And the FCC is exploiting that concern, but what they're doing really is not going to help.
1:17.8	And if anything, it's going to make the problem worse.
1:21.5	And in a nutshell, the industry is already getting rid of the boxes.
1:30.5	They're already offering apps that allow you to control your television service directly on a smart TV where the TV runs apps or run things on your home electronic devices, your smart screens, your TV, your phones, etc.
1:40.2	And yet that's not good enough for the FCC because this isn't really about the box.
1:45.0	It's about the FCC trying to invent an entirely new category of third-party apps that provide your cable content or your satellite content or however you get your so-called multi-channel video programming distributor content from
	...

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