Markey, Blumenthal Decry Lack of Choice, Competition in Pay-TV Video Box Marketplace

Press Release

With approximately 99 percent of customers renting their set-top box directly from their pay-TV provider, the set-top box rental market may be worth more than $19.5 billion per year, with the average American household spending more than $231 per year on set-top box rental fees. These are some of the findings from Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal's (D-Conn.) query of the top-ten pay-TV multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). Last November, the Senators, members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, sent letters to the major MVPDs asking them to provide information on their video box practices, including the number of customers, costs and choices for consumers.

Passed by Congress in December, the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 repealed the set-top box integration ban, which enabled consumers to access technology that allowed use of a set-top box other than one leased from their cable company. Without the integration ban, by the end of this year, cable companies will no longer be required to make their services compatible with outside set-top boxes, like TiVo for example, bought directly by consumers in the retail marketplace.

"Consumers should have the same range of choices for their video set-top boxes as they have for their mobile phones," said Senator Markey. "When Congress last year regrettably removed the requirement that cable company services be compatible with set-top boxes purchased in the marketplace rather than rented directly from the provider, we doomed consumers to being captive to cable company rental fees forever. We also endangered a competitive set-top box marketplace, replacing consumer choice with cable company control. We need a new, national consumer-friendly standard that will allow consumers to choose their own video box irrespective from their pay-TV provider. Consumers should not be forced to rent video boxes from their pay-TV provider in perpetuity."

"Consumers deserve protection against hidden, hideously vexing fees for set-top boxes," said Blumenthal. "The average household is forced into fees of more than $200 a year on set-top boxes -- an expense that is unjust and unjustifiable. As the world becomes increasingly connected and technology advances, new innovations must be able to break into the cable marketplace and provide the vigorous competition that drives down prices for consumers. Consumers deserve competitive options in accessing technology and television -- not exorbitant prices dictated by monopoly cable companies."

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