A bipartisan quintet of House Judiciary Committee members wants FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the other commissioners to answer some questions about the chairman's set-top box proposal before voting on it, adding to the growing number of legislators expressing concerns about the impact of the proposal on contractual relationships.
The letter was dated Feb. 16 and the vote is planned for Feb. 18.
They said they wrote to express their concerns with the proposal, particularly its impact on independent programmers.
"Regulation in this space has the potential to upend ties between creators, channel providers, and cable companies--and jeopardize the rights of creators to negotiate directly with those selling their work to consumers....
"We are concerned...that the Commissioner’s new proposal could undermine this creative ecosystem by enabling companies to make money distributing content without negotiating with creators – an approach that conflicts with the copyright law established by Congress.... Regulation in this space has the potential to drastically weaken the economics of the legitimate businesses that have fueled so much of the innovation and consumer choice that has taken place during the last decade.
That is one of the points that cable operators and others in the Future of Television Coalition have made in criticizing the proposal to "unlock" set-top content and data and make it available for repackaging with online content by third party navigation devices.
An FCC spokesperson said the letter had been recieved and was being reviewed.
