Hatch Presses Wheeler on Set-top Proposal, Licensing Concerns

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, repeated his concerns about the FCC’s set-top box rulemaking Wednesday, in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler. “I am particularly concerned that the proposed rules could upend carefully negotiated licensing agreements between multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and content providers. ... Approaches that ignore the need for licensing or undercut existing licensing agreements will likely increase costs for consumers, reduce choices, and discourage innovation,” Hatch said in the letter. “While you have repeatedly said that copyright law will not be impacted by the proposal, the terms of the licensing agreements between MVPDs and programmers are the key mechanism for protecting the copyrights of content owners, and these are the very terms that third-party devices and apps will be permitted to disregard under the FCC’s proposal.” He requested “all relevant information that will provide a clearer understanding of exactly how the proposed rules will ensure those objectives are met,” referring to maintaining existing business and content relationships. Hatch raised the issue during a hearing last week (see 1605110062). The FCC has defended the NPRM, and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., are defending the set-top NPRM in a letter they circulated to colleagues. "Before you decide to weigh in on the FCC’s proposal, I urge you to talk to your constituents and ask them how they feel about ‘the privilege’ of paying hundreds of dollars a year in fees to rent their cable box," Eshoo and Takano said. "I also urge you to read the fact sheet below which dispels some of the most common myths about the FCC’s proposal." They tallied the NPRM's supporters, which they say includes President Barack Obama: "In April, the President of the United States endorsed the proposal." The Future of TV Coalition, which opposes the NPRM, shot back at the letter that Eshoo and Takano are circulating. "This debate isn’t about whether consumers should have alternatives to leased set-top boxes. All sides agree they should, and this is already happening in the market today," Future of TV said. "This debate is really about the best way to advance that innovation even further while respecting the copyright, licensing, diversity, and privacy characteristics of the TV ecosystem." It released its own fact sheet.