[Ecommerce] Consumer and Public Interest Groups Ask FCC To Enforce Set-Top Box Choices

[Manon Ress]

Note:  This release is being sent out on behalf of several
organizations.


Contact:  Art Brodsky
                 202-518-0020 (o)                301-908-7715 (c)
                abrodsky@publicknowledge.org


For Immediate Release
November 15, 2006

Consumer and Public Interest Groups Ask FCC To Enforce Set-Top Box
Choices

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should make certain
consumers will have the benefits of long-overdue competition for
cable set-top boxes, a group of public-interest and consumer
organizations said today in a letter to the Commission.

Consumers were promised this competition 10 years ago in the 1996
Telecom Act, and the FCC adopted regulations to implement it eight
years ago, but the cable industry has yet to comply, according to the
letter signed by the Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Project
on Technology, Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free
Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge and U.S. Public
Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG).

The cable industry is seeking waivers to prevent consumer choice in
set-top boxes from going into effect on July 1, 2007, part of yet
another series of delays.  The letter said:  =93Congress was right when
it sought to promote competition in the set-top box market.  The
cable industry=92s continuous efforts to postpone this mandate are anti-
competitive and anti-consumer.  The Commission should no longer
condone them.=94  The full text of the letter is here:  http://
www.publicknowledge.org/node/717.

Gigi B. Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, said:  =93The Commission
has been far too lenient with the cable industry, and consumers have
suffered as a result.  This time the Commission should enforce the
rules, and give consumers the benefits of competition and innovation.=94

"The lock that cable has on cable set-top boxes is antiquated and
anti-competitive," said Jeannine Kenney, policy analyst for Consumers
Union. "But unless FCC holds firm on the integration ban, it=92s clear
the cable industry will continue to drag its feet, denying consumers
meaningful retail alternatives to the outrageous monthly box 'rental'
fees."

"Cable monopolists have unfairly used proprietary devices to jack up
prices and limit consumer choice," said Amina Fazlullah, U.S. PIRG
media reform attorney. "At the end of the day, cable consumers will
pay less and be better off with the new set-top box rules."




--
Art Brodsky
Communications Director
Public Knowledge
(202) 518-0020 ext 103 (o)
(301) 908-7715 (c)
1875 Connecticut Ave., N.W.
Suite 650
Washington, D.C.  20009
www.publicknowledge.org