In an editorial penned for the Wall Street Journal, former Louisiana U.S. Sen. John Breaux is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to give consumers more options for watching TV than renting set-top-boxes from cable companies.
The op-ed, co-authored with Mississippi Republican U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, says families pay an average of $231 per year to rent the boxes from companies that are dead last in customer-satisfaction surveys—even though the two say there are emerging technologies that give people more choices, such as live-streaming sporting events or binge-watching through a streaming service.
“The perseverance of the set-top-box monopoly has been frustrating to watch,” say Breaux and Lott, who work as senior counsel for the lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, which represents telecommunications companies and industry groups. “Unlocking the set-top box is an economic imperative, and the FCC should act. It’s a good idea and sound policy. Competition and consumer choice for set-top boxes are also required by law.”
They cite The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which directs the FCC to promote competition for all technology markets emerging at the time, including the set-top-box.
“The legislation sought to give American consumers the freedom to purchase a device to watch television anywhere in the country, on any cable system,” the pair says. “In the 20 years since, things have changed dramatically for the better in pretty much every device market except the set-top-box space.”
Cable companies continue to fight any hint at allowing set-top-box competition and are marshaling their resources for another fight, they note, adding the companies have “been reduced to making desperate claims about encroachments on privacy and copyright law that could result from giving consumers greater freedom in the set-top market.”
