FCC Aims to Kill Obama-era Set-Top Box Proceeding

A Federal Communications Commission proposal that began circulating Aug 14 among FCC commissioners would formally close the door on a controversial plan involving consumers’ cable set-top boxes. Will Wiquist, a spokesperson for Chairman Ajit Pai, said that this new proposal “would terminate the proceeding in which the prior Commission proposed imposing complex and unnecessary regulations on the navigation device market that generated bipartisan opposition within and outside the agency, and serious concerns from a wide range of stakeholders and experts, including the U.S. Copyright Office.” Longtime FCC watchers may remember the contentious 2016 policy battle surrounding then-Chair Tom Wheeler’s ambitions to open this marketplace and give consumers a choice beyond renting boxes from their pay-TV provider. That effort prompted bipartisan uproar on Capitol Hill and among cable and programming industry leaders. Chairman Wheeler never brought his plan to a vote given his struggles to secure the necessary support, even among fellow Democrats. (He never won over Jessica Rosenworcel, who remains on the commission.) After Trump tapped Pai to become chair in 2017, the GOP chief yanked Wheeler’s proposal from circulation within days. This new item would take the formal additional step of closing the long-dormant proceeding itself, something House Republicans had requested of Pai in 2017 that he then deemed “premature” due to some outstanding related media issues.