Watching cable on the Web

[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has said that one of his top goals is to promote competition in the industries he regulates. The agency is now mulling a rule change that could increase competition and choice for TV viewers by helping companies launch pay-TV services that stream channels through the Internet. It's a good idea, but it wouldn't do much to counteract the forces that are driving pay-TV bills into the stratosphere.

The FCC may not have the authority to break up cable bundles. The best it may be able to do is bar the bundling of local TV stations with non-broadcast networks such as ESPN, Fox News, the Golf Channel or Showtime. That would help a company such as Aereo, which wants to offer consumers a low-cost way to view their local TV broadcasts through the Internet, but not companies such as Sony and Dish Network, which are piecing together full-fledged online alternatives to cable. Nevertheless, it's time for the FCC to create a common set of rules for pay-TV providers regardless of how they transmit their signals, and to welcome the new competitors that broadband makes possible.