Show focused on disruption, but leaders fret about Commission’s disruptive influence
BOSTON – This year’s theme for the 2016 INTX show (formerly the NCTA’s Cable Show) is “a little disruption never hurt” and with speakers from the likes of Mashable and FanDuel – along with (*gasp*) AT&T and Verizon, the cable business here seems to be embracing the word.
However, they’re sure not embracing the FCC and its decision to regulate the cable set top box market and open it up to competition.
“Our industry is shifting into high gear as a high tech industry; with more sophisticated products and services. These actions are also a response to the rising heat of competition sparking from old sources as well as new,” said Michael Powell, president and CEO of the National Cable Telecommunications Association. “We fully expect this re-modeling to bring new energy and vibrancy to the Internet and television marketplace.”
Powell noted the departure (or impending departure) of companies such as Time Warner Cable and Cablevision, which have been gobbled up via mergers (Charter and Altice, respectively) and said looking around at all sorts of new competition in video means “that delivering exciting, high quality video content to American consumers is a fantastic business to be in (but) there are formidable new creatures roaming our traditional feeding grounds.”
On the content side, Powell noted 409 scripted series were produced in the U.S. and it “is ironic that a company known more for selling books (Amazon) is taking home Emmy Awards for television.”
However, with the dramatic technological progress fueled by competition, which has driven a massive growth in content and connectivity, regulation threatens to derail all of that, added the NCTA CEO.
“Internet companies are nurtured and allowed to roam free, but network providers are disparagingly labeled ‘gatekeepers’ that should be shackled.” – Michael Powell, NCTA
“We find ourselves the target of a relentless regulatory assault. The FCC’s governing mantra has been ‘competition, competition, competition.’ From where we sit, that incantation has come to mean one thing, ‘regulation, regulation, regulation.’ The policy blows we are weathering are not modest regulatory corrections. They have been thundering, tectonic shifts that have crumbled decades of settled law and policy.
“We increasingly are saddled with heavy rules without any compelling evidence of harm to consumers or competitors,” he continued.
“Other times we find our property being confiscated and passed off to new competitors to give them a leg up, despite healthy and robust markets. This is the case with the current proposal to unbundle valuable content and hand it to companies who do not have to pay for it, respect the intellectual property rights of it or abide by the same regulatory requirements to protect consumers,” he explained, speaking of the FCC’s push to unlock content from cable set top boxes
“Instead of unlocking the box, this proposal has unlocked fierce opposition from all quarters,” said Powell.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts chimed in with a similar message during his opening keynote as well as later on with reporters during a press conference. Now would “be the worst time to start regulating,” he said, noting there’s huge innovation and progress towards eliminating set top boxes already – and that content owners want their TV shows and movies securely transmitted and paid for. “Why you would want to change befuddles me,” added Roberts. Indeed, the INTX show floor is flooded with smart TVs and devices like Roku running cable set top technology. Carriers don’t want boxes and are already unlocking them, which keeping content secure.
“What I believe is most troublesome is an emerging government view that the communications market is bifurcated and should be regulated differently. Internet companies are nurtured and allowed to roam free, but network providers are disparagingly labeled ‘gatekeepers’ that should be shackled,” continued Powell.
“I believe this jaundiced view will prove detrimental to America’s ambitions in the Information Age. Networks must continue to innovate, experiment and thrive in order to fuel the Internet growth we all want to see. It is a mistake to view network providers as an impediment to that growth, rather than a valued ingredient of it.”
Photo courtesy NCTA
