Chairman Wheeler: Set-Top Proposal Has 'Gotta Be Done’

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says that Comcast's announcement that it was putting set-top box functionality into Samsung Smart TVs and would not charge a monthly fee made the FCC's set-top case for it. He said he was encouraged by the “technological and business solution" the announcement represents and said it was a "model" and in "accord" with what the FCC "has been talking about." But he still said the set-top proposal needed to get done to make sure that kind of model was available across the board.

"Let's take how that is happening, put that in the rule, and make it available for everybody." "I think that what Comcast just did is proving our point that you can take a third-party device, put set-top box functionality into it, and protect copyright and the economic ecosystem." Cable operators have argued that Chairman Wheeler's proposal to make set-top content and data available to third parties threatens content protections, contracts, and ad integrity and would require new devices and network rebuilds. Chairman Wheeler said it would not mean rebuilding the network or "all the other horrible things" the industry has cited. He said the essence of the proposal was that content could be safely moved to third-party devices. He said it was essential that the third party option be available to everyone regardless of who their cable operator is, regardless of the kind of TV, and "for all time, not until a unilateral decision is made to pull the plug." Chairman Wheeler said his proposal "has gotta be done. And that's the road we are headed down."