Senators Slam Pay TV Set-Top Market

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) say information they collected from the top 10 pay-TV providers indicates a continuing lack of choice and competition in the pay-TV video set-top box market. That comes as the Federal Communications Commission works on a downloadable set-top security successor to the CableCARD after its integration ban was legislated away in the STELAR satellite reauthorization legislation.

Sens Markey and Blumenthal decried that lack of competition (the ban was scrapped in part because it had failed to prompt a robust competitive box market) and said their info showed that households were spending north of $231 per year on set-top rental fees. The Senators asked for the info last November. “Consumers should have the same range of choices for their video set-top boxes as they have for their mobile phones,” said Sen Markey, who had opposed shelving the integration ban, in a joint statement outlining some of the findings. "When Congress last year regrettably removed the requirement that cable company services be compatible with set-top boxes purchased in the marketplace rather than rented directly from the provider, we doomed consumers to being captive to cable company rental fees forever." “Consumers deserve protection against hidden, hideously vexing fees for set-top boxes,” added Sen Blumenthal.