Eshoo's Office Seeks To Abolish Set-Top Box 'Fictions'

One House Democrat attempted “setting the record straight about set-top boxes,” said the title of a fact sheet from the office of Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. The one-page fact sheet, not released publicly but confirmed as authentic by a Democratic aide, is dated Wednesday and includes four sections about the recent set-top box proposals from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The first section argues for the importance of the proposal: “Because of the lack of competition in the set-top box space, consumers today are paying on average a whopping $231 per year on rental fees alone.” The sheet also quotes praise from newspaper editorial boards and blasts what it says are four fictions. Wheeler’s proposal would not affect copyright and does nothing “to eliminate protections for privacy, emergency alerts, and children’s advertising,” the Eshoo fact sheet said. It “will enhance independent and minority programming, giving consumers the ability to choose set-top boxes or apps with improved search functionality and user interfaces” and “is technology neutral, meaning any company will be able to manufacture a set-top box or design an app and sell it to consumers,” it said. Much of the cable and telecom industry has resisted Wheeler’s proposal, forming a group known as the Future of TV Coalition (see 1601290060). Eshoo lauded Wheeler’s set-top box plans last month (see 1601270064).