Set-top Proposal Bad for Minority Programmers, Dodd, Powell Say
FCC-proposed changes to rules for third-party set-top boxes (see 1602180065) would have a negative impact on programmers, and on minority programmers in particular, MPAA President Chris Dodd and NCTA President Michael Powell said Tuesday at a briefing hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. The FCC proposal would give third-party set-top manufacturers access to programming they haven’t paid for, devaluing the content industry, Dodd and Powell said. If tech companies want access to content, they should negotiate with programmers the way multichannel video programming distributors do, said Victor Cerda, president of network V-me.
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The video market is already “a very challenging environment for minorities,” Cerda said. Any proposal that puts programmers at a competitive disadvantage would also adversely affect minority programmers, he said. The Latinos in the Information Technology Association, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and the United Hispanic Leadership Institute opposed the FCC set-top proposal, in filings in docket 16-42.
The FCC proposal “denies programmers a customer” since it would give content to a distributor at no cost, allowing the distributor to include its own advertisements or rearrange the content without consequences, Powell said. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said the proposed rules would require third-party set-top makers to agree not to repackage or change the stream of content they receive from MVPDs. Powell said the NPRM doesn’t explicitly propose that. The proposal to use covenants is “a hollow promise,” Powell said.
Advocates of the FCC proposal have touted a universal search function as a benefit, which would allow users to search for content simultaneously from their pay-TV provider and through over-the-top offerings, presenting the findings side by side. Though opponents of the proposal previously argued such a search would be technically infeasible, Dodd said the proposed function would also contribute to piracy problems. Unlicensed content could be presented alongside licensed content, making it hard for viewers to know they were viewing pirated works, he said.
A universal search function would just present online content alongside cable content, Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer said in an interview. Public Knowledge is part of the Consumer Video Choice Coalition, which supports the FCC plan. “We already have many devices that stream online video,” Bergmayer said, saying the set-top wouldn't be unique in that regard. “Think of an Apple TV that also has cable content," Bergmayer said of the universal search function.
The FCC proposal is “a solution looking for a problem,” Powell said. The current video “ecosystem” already is “racing toward the objective of this proceeding” faster than the FCC can keep up, Powell said. By the time the FCC completes its proposed standard-setting process and the rulemaking, set-tops could be largely extinct, he said.