O'Rielly Backs HTML5 Set-Top Proposal

The set-top compromise to build pay-TV apps on an open HTML5 standard is a "common-sense, technology-friendly replacement" plan, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said in a blog post. Noting the plan from NCTA and some pay-TV programmers and carriers (see 1606160059) has generated some criticisms -- that consumers aren't familiar enough with apps, they don't provide a unified search or fix unreliable equipment, and they won't drive down monthly rent prices -- O'Rielly then tackled them individually. Data shows apps are widely used, and customers wouldn't be required to go with apps because they could keep their set-tops, he said. Section 629 of the Communications Act has no unified search requirement, and users might not even care for that option, O'Rielly said: "Why obsess over a feature that may or may not have little to no consumer value?" Apps also will make the whole issue of equipment and its reliability moot, he said. O'Rielly called the prospect of having to pay monthly fees for apps "farfetched" but said the FCC could work with industry to ensure they're free. He has been critical of the FCC's own set-top proposal, including at a broadcasters conference last week, the remarks of which were posted online shortly Monday before his blog post (see 1606270066).