What is the True Cost of a Set-Top Box?

The multichannel video industry and the consumer would love to be rid of the set-top box, and the industry has offered a path forward. Why doesn’t the Federal Communications Commission take the easy path? Why not let the industry eliminate the set-top box and put Section 629 to bed (which the 1996 Telecommunications Act specifically permits)? Why not embrace an app-based approach that the video industry, copyright owners, and consumers all prefer? Apparently, the Obama Administration has some other objective in mind. Given FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s repeated and unwavering use of bogus numbers and his failure to conduct any serious investigation into the role of the set-top box in the video industry, perhaps it’s time for consumers and Congress to take a look behind the veil to see what the Administration might be hiding.

[Dr. George S. Ford is Chief Economist of the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies]