Amazon, CVCC Lobby FCC on Set-Tops

The FCC should allow market forces to ensure navigation device competition, not a government-supervised industry committee, Amazon officials said in a call with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-42. “There is no need for app licensing terms to be determined by an industry group subject to Commission oversight. The process to create such a license and oversight body will delay competition and delay customers from receiving the [multichannel video programming distributor] services they already pay for on the device of their choice." Instead, the FCC should require large MVPDs to provide a “consumption-only application to widely distributed systems within one year of the final Order, under the common, transparent, and well-understood practices of appstores,” Amazon said. “If the Commission is concerned that existing app store processes may not work in the MVPD app context, then it could create a complaint process through which an aggrieved party could file a complaint about unfair terms and conditions.” The FCC “should resist action that would weaken the rights that consumers enjoy today or restrict the ability of third parties to develop new features that help consumers gain access to lawful content,” said Consumer Video Choice Coalition representatives including the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering, Arent Fox Senior Policy Adviser Byron Dorgan and Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman in a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday. “Assertions made in recent ex parte letters from content companies raise serious questions regarding antitrust and how oversight by the Commission is essential to preventing anticompetitive practices.” A set-top box order is on circulation for a likely vote at commissioners' next meeting (see 1609080085).