By: JohnThackr

JohnThackr — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 14:21:00 +0000

You should probably include the WSJ op-ed by Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku, in your list of cites. He opposes the set top box mandate (http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-fccs-set-top-box-rule-hurts-consumers-1461279906)

By: Brett Glass

Brett Glass — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 16:15:00 +0000

This article documents part of the problem, but misses the FCC’s main motivation for rushing this regulatory agenda now – in the last days of the Obama Administration. This is to do favors to White House patron and political contributor Google, which the Obama campaign twice credited with its electoral victories. The FCC’s mandate — with no basis in statute — that Google be allowed to interpose themselves between cable TV providers and their customers, spying on them all the while and inserting its own ads and content, is strictly for Google’s benefit. As are the FCC’s recent initiatives with regard to “privacy” and “network neutrality.” The FCC likely hopes to take advantage of packed courts (the DC Circuit, which reviews FCC decision, is packed with Obama and Clinton appointees loyal to the administration and/or their party and eager to be “promoted” to posts on the Supreme Court) and gridlock in Congress to do favors for Google. Chairman Wheeler appears to have been threatened with demotion from his post as Chairman in the fall of 2014 if he did not comply with Google’s wishes — and he and his staff clearly hope to be rewarded with lucrative jobs at (or at firms that work for) Google after January. Thus, we have both carrot and stick…. Irresistible motivation to act in ways that benefit a large corporation at the expense of the public interest.

Comments on: Why is the FCC Doubling Down on Regulating the TV Industry and Set Top Boxes?

By: JohnThackr

By: Brett Glass