Sen Leahy: FCC Must Clarify Set-Top Proposal

Count Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT) among the fans of the Federal Communications Commission's set-top box proposal but only if it protects multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD, or pay-TV) content and contracts. Ranking Member Leahy sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (there were no co-signers), saying he supported the need for competition, though he characterized the proposal as "beginning a discussion of how best to [spur meaningful set-top competition] in today's environment."

Ranking Member Leahy agreed that rules were needed. He said that the "patchwork of state privacy laws and Federal Trade Commission enforcement alone are not adequate" and that consumers want the option of "breaking free" of rental boxes, but he said that should not mean fewer rights for consumers and programmers. While the letter's overall tone was supportive, it also echoed concerns MVPDs have raised about protecting content or denying functions via the forced disaggregation. The senator told FCC chairman Tom Wheeler he thought the "unlock the box" proposal—the FCC's brand for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on third-party navigation devices—would "put forward meaningful opportunity to increase consumer choice" but also said it needed "important clarifications."