Hit Reset on Set-Tops

[Commentary] It’s time for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to rethink the approach to promote competition in third-party navigation devices. But don’t take our word for it.

In the Senate, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Harry Reid (D-NV) agree there are problems with the proposal to give third parties access to multichannel video programming distributors’ set-top programming and subscribers’ data, and they don’t agree on much these days. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who voted for the proposal, says the FCC needs to “find another way forward” to the goal she shares with Chairman Wheeler of more choice and lower prices. Cable operators also have said they want to move away from boxes and the expense of maintaining them. Chairman Wheeler recently signaled that, while he was not exactly endorsing it, the move was progress toward working with the industry to achieve his goal of more robust navigation device competition. We hope that progress bears fruit, and should signal to Hill Republicans to back off legislative gambits to tie the FCC’s hands via appropriations riders, which President Obama has signaled he would veto anyway. Sounds like cable’s proposal is a good starting point for that new path forward Commissioner Rosenworcel was talking about.