AllVid Alliance: 'Shiny' Apps Aren't Replacement For Open Video Standard

The AllVid Tech Company Alliance -- a lobbying group whose members include Google, Sony, TiVo and Best Buy -- argued in comments with the Federal Communications Commission that pay-TV providers' individual efforts to deliver programming to non-TV devices are not enough to meet a Congressional mandate that consumers be able to access TV programming on any device they choose.

"Section 629 of the Communications Act is not satisfied by consumers being able to download an MVPD's [multichannel video programming distributor's] app on a particular brand of television set or 'cable systems...developing new ways to use the Internet,'" the group said, citing June 8 comments by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. The group continued, "While MVPDs point to the latest 'shiny thing over there,' they ignore the Section 629 mandate of the Communications Act. The Commission must not lose sight of the fact that Congress directed the Commission to foster a competitive retail market for navigation devices used by consumers to access the full range of services offered by MVPDs, and to access that programming and those services through manufacturers, retailers and other vendors not affiliated with any MVPD."