Trend Toward On-demand Argues Against new Set-Top Rules, Says Bennett
The ease of being a cord cutter makes FCC plans for the set-top box market “a real head-scratcher,” said High Tech Forum editor and American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Richard Bennett in an posting Thursday. On-demand viewing is on the…
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rise, and it's easier to be a cord cutter than ever, Bennett said. FCC set-top plans won’t “find traction” with viewers for at least four to five years, he said. By then, according to current trends, “TV viewing will be at least 80 percent on-demand,” Bennett said. “Given these trends, it’s not immediately obvious that the FCC should be trying to preserve devices like the set-top box whose sole purpose in life is to enable the viewing of linear TV.” Others have been pointing to recent market developments as a reason not to pursue what the agency eyes as a means to make it easier for consumers to get encrypted video content from devices they don't lease from operators (see 1603020035).