Focus on broadband access, not set-top boxes, analyst says

“The Internet has eaten the TV,” an analyst for The Diffusion Group pointed out in a post arguing that the Federal Communications Commission needs to stop futzing about with set-top box regulation and instead accept that TV’s future lies in apps, not hardware. With the FCC’s vote on new “unlock the box” set-top rules due Sept 29, TDG analyst Joel Espelien sided squarely with the commission on its “surprisingly radical and surprisingly obvious” new policy recommendation – one that is more in line with the pay-TV industry’s counter-proposal -- that multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs, or pay-TV) provide an app-based alternative to set-tops after a two-year transition period. That alternative would run on a streaming device like Roku or Google Chromecast and obviate the need to lease a box. Espelien suggested that the industry needs to change its perspective on streaming video and its place in the greater broadband-based internet. Getting access to broadband is far more important than being able to tune into a TV program; that’s why the FCC has encouraged programs that help lower-income Americans get high-speed broadband connections. And that’s why TV has become an “option,” not a necessity, he said.