Public Knowledge's Kimmelman: 'Data' is FCC set-top proposal's 'dirty little secret'

Speaking during a spirited clash of high-level decision-makers positioned on opposite sides of the Federal Communications Commission's set-top proposal debate, one of the leading "pros," Gene Kimmelman, chief executive of Public Knowledge, conceded that access and control of viewer data on advanced pay-TV set-tops is a crucial, overlooked part of the FCC agenda. Calling control of that data "the dirty little secret" behind the business of leasing pay-TV set-tops, Kimmelman told a National Association of Broadcasters conference audience that programmers should support a regulator proposal that takes that data out of the clutches of the pay-TV industry and gives them access to it.

"It's going to be important to content owners to have more data about who's watching their shows," Kimmelman said during the afternoon panel at Las Vegas' Westgate Hotel. Since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler introduced his plan to "unlock" the pay-TV set-top business to third-party technology makers in January, a debate has raged. Large technology companies like Google, influential consumer electronics makers including TiVo, and consumer groups like Public Knowledge have billed it as a way to build innovation into a leased set-top business that they say is nothing more than a $20 billion annual cash grab for the pay-TV industry.