ACA: FCC Set-Top Proposal Is Illegal

The American Cable Association says it thinks the Federal Communications Commission's new set-top box proposal is an illegal overreach of its authority and warns the commission not to proceed, but adds that if it does, it should only apply that illegal proposal to larger multichannel video programming distributors, not its smaller members. ACA did not promise to sue the FCC if it does exempt smaller MVPDs from the proposal, but signaled that was the likely outcome.

ACA SVP Ross Lieberman said he wanted to make it clear that the FCC should not adopt the proposal, period. But that if it does, it could still achieve the notice of proposal rulemaking's goals by applying the regulations only to larger MPVDs. He pointed out that those larger players serve 93% of pay TV subs, which is more than enough to make a new technology self sustaining, and that those players were historically the ones to roll out new devices. Asked whether ACA was saying it was OK with illegal regulations so long as they were applied to larger MPVDs, Lieberman said no. "We're saying the FCC should not adopt its proposal. But if the FCC moves forward with what we believe is an unlawful proposal, it should only apply the unlawful proposal to larger MVPDs." He added that he was sure the larger MVPDs would then take the FCC to court.