We are the 99% — of cable customers

[Commentary] Few things unite Americans quite like our common disdain for the cable company. A Consumer Reports survey last year showed that customers everywhere are dissatisfied with service quality and value. All of that is bad enough. But one part of the cable experience that has long frustrated me — as a regulator and a customer — is the monthly rent on my set top box. Our household is typical of cable households that pay hundreds of dollars per year to rent that little piece of furniture. Even as every other electronic device in our households has raced forward technologically, our set top boxes have lagged in innovation and creativity. So it was welcome news indeed when the Federal Communications Commission announced a possible opening of the set top box market to competition. Under the new framework, consumers would be able to shop for a better box — one they would own, rather than lease — and that would connect them to all of the programming they pay for, as well as make it easier to access streaming and over-the-top programming. That’s great news for consumers and content creators and an unprecedented opportunity for the independent and diverse programmers who historically have struggled for placement on the cable dial. A new, smarter box would allow those programmers to connect directly with consumers, by-passing Big Cable gatekeepers.

Big Cable will pull out all the stops to defend their gatekeeper status. There’s still time for individuals to speak up. They should contact Congress and demand the FCC stay strong in this fight. The public interest demands it.

[Michael Copps was FCC Commissioner 2001–2011. Since 2012 he has served as Special Adviser to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative.]