Privacy and Cable TV

[Commentary] The so-called AllVid rule goes much further than facilitating another set-top box. It would give Big Tech companies like Google the right to disregard program licensing arrangements that creators rely on for exposure and success. That’s why a majority of the Congressional Black Caucus and scores more have skewered this proposal as an outrageous giveaway to wealthy tech companies at the expense of small and independent programmers. These new AllVid boxes would be exempt from privacy rules limiting the sale of individual viewing profiles and limits on advertising to children. And it would actually increase consumer bills because of huge re-engineering costs and new in-home boxes and adapters required to make the system work. Big Tech doesn’t need a government handout to deliver programming. It can negotiate for rights the way other services do today.

[Powell is President and Chief Executive of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association]