Cable companies are still against FCCs attempt to open the set-top box industry, but it seems that they are now ready to accept some type of restriction. Representatives of the cable TV met FCC commissioners and staff to let them know the willingness to comply with the need to deploy application for other set-top boxes. The apps that are used should have all On-Demand and linear content, but recording feature is not mandatory for the devices.
This was not what FCC was looking for though. The proposed rules of FCC were forcing the pay TV providers make right to record and video programming available to the other manufacturers of set-top boxes and software. Under the model proposed by FCC, the third party vendor software and equipment are allowed to make their own UI, through which, users can control and access the programs. This solution is much similar to the cable card, but the difference is that it does not need a physical card.
Cable TV providers favored the use of an app model. In this model the pay TV operators has the choice to make apps that bring their programs to third party devices. It seems that the cable TV companies are not willing to give up the app approach, but they have now agreed to the rules making it mandatory for the operators to release apps that offer access to the video customers to subscribe on variety of devices, not only the television. This is applicable for the cable TV companies that have at least 1 million subscribers.
The representatives of the cable company said that the users would benefit more from the choices. “Under the new approach, consumers who want to watch their Pay TV service on different devices in the home could download a new Pay TV app to the smart TV, tablet, or other ‘connected’ device and start viewing without a cable set-top box. Because of satellite’s one-way architecture, satellite subscribers would need one gateway device from their satellite company to bring the signal to the home and provide features competitive with two-way services, but satellite providers would also offer downloadable HTML5 apps for third-party connected devices,” the filing states.
We need to wait to know if the subscribers will opt for cable TV alternatives or go with the FCC regulations.
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