FCC Considering 'Revised' App Approach in Set-Top Proceeding, Fox Says

The FCC is considering a “revised approach” to proposed set-top box rules that “would ensure that all of Fox’s and other programmers’ valuable content would remain inside of, and under the control of, apps developed exclusively” by pay-TV providers, said 21st Century Fox in an ex parte filing posted in docket 16-42 Tuesday. “The Commission staff also stressed that third-party platforms, when distributing these MVPD [multichannel video programming distributors] apps, would be required to honor and abide by all of the terms and conditions set forth in programmers’ licenses with MVPDs.” Fox told aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler and Chief Technologist Scott Jordan it supported “a rule construct in which programming at all times remains inside of an MVPD-controlled app,” the filing said. In a separate filing in 16-42, TiVo criticized the pay-TV-backed apps proposal, which it said was already rejected by the FCC after the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee process. “The MVPD App proposal would represent a significant step backwards from the features and functionality that consumers enjoy today using CableCARD-enabled devices,” TiVo said. It lobbied Wheeler aides and Jordan as well. The agency is considering MVPD's Ditch the Box alternative to Wheeler's Unlock the Box NPRM to give pay-TV customers ways to view cable programming without leasing set-tops from those providers (see 1608040062).