“The Federal Communications Commission [February 18, 2016] approved a proposal that would tear down anti-competitive barriers and pave the way for software, devices , and other innovative solutions to compete with the set-top boxes that a majority of consumers lease from pay-TV providers today. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) will create a framework for providing innovators, device manufacturers, and app developers the information they need to develop new technologies, reflecting the many ways consumers access their subscription video programming today . Ninety-nine percent of pay – TV subscribers have limited choices today and lease set – top boxes from their cable and satellite operators. Lack of competition has meant few choices and high prices for consumers – on average, $231 in rental fees annually for the average American household. Altogether, U.S. consumers spend $20 billion a year to lease these devices. Since 1994, according to a recent analysis, the cost of cable set – top boxes has risen 185 percent while the cost of computers, televisions, and mobile phones has dropped by 90 percent. Congress recognized the importance of a competitive marketplace and directed the Commission to adopt rules that will ensure consumers will be able to use the device they prefer for accessing programming they’ve paid for. Today’s NPRM provides the framework to “unlock the box” for innovators to create competitive solutions – either hardware or software – based apps—thatgive consumers freedom of choice. Specifically, it recommends that pay-TV providers be required to deliver three core information streams:

• Service discovery: Information about what programming is available to the consumer, such as the channel listing and video-on-demand lineup, and what is on those channels
• Entitlements: Information about what a device is allowed to do with content, such as recording.
• Content delivery: The video programming itself…”