Senators’ investigation revealed set-top box rental market may be worth nearly $20 billion per year and consumers have little choice over what device they can use
Washington (September 8, 2016) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) today commended an order circulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to spur innovation and provide more choice in the set-top box market. The new rules, to be voted on by the Commission on September 29, would create a framework that allows consumers to view their pay-TV content on innovative third-party devices of their choosing without having to rent a box from their pay-TV provider.
“We’ve seen an explosion of choice and innovation in consumer electronics in everything from mobile phones, to personal computing, to music players. Yet for two decades, there has been almost no choice in the pay-tv video box marketplace. Consumers have been waiting for twenty years for a truly competitive and robust set-top box marketplace that puts an end to exorbitant cable box rental fees, and the FCC’s order represents the dawn of a new era,” said Senator Markey, House co-author of the 1996 Telecommunications Act and member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “The FCC is using authority clearly provided by Congress to better allow consumers to choose which device to watch programming for which they have already paid. I applaud the FCC for its efforts and encourage the Commission to finalize these rules. It’s time we add set-top boxes to the list of all of the other consumer technologies that have benefited from strong rules that fostered choice, innovation, and competition.”
“Competition in the set-top box market is an issue of basic fairness,” said Senator Blumenthal, a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “Consumers don’t have to rent computers from their broadband providers or DVD players from their cable companies – set-top boxes should be no different. But for the last two decades, consumers have been forced into paying an average of nearly $232 per year to access programming they already pay for in their skyrocketing monthly cable bills,” Blumenthal said. “I congratulate this Commission on their leadership and courage in finally addressing an issue that we have been laboring to solve for twenty years. Going forward, we must ensure that this rule truly addresses costs for consumers, and includes access to a no-cost alternative to cable set-top boxes. I will continue fighting to ensure that consumers have competitive options in accessing technology and television, not exorbitant prices dictated by cable companies.”
Last year, Senators Markey and Blumenthal released findings from their investigation of the set-top box market that revealed that consumers have little choice in their pay-TV set-top boxes and that the average household spends nearly $232 annually on set-top box rental fees. The investigation also found that approximately 99 percent of customers rent their set-top box directly from their pay-TV provider and the set-top box rental market may be worth more than $19.5 billion per year.
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