The End of the Set Top Box?

The FCC voted an NPRM regarding the set top box. Advocacy groups such as Public Knowledge state:

Today, the Federal Communications Commission approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, requesting comment on a proposal to allow pay TV customers to access programming on the devices and apps of their choice without having to rent a set-top box from their cable provider. Public Knowledge applauds the FCC for taking such a significant step toward breaking open the stranglehold pay TV giants have over consumers.

 We have been following this for well over a decade. One Commissioner, Ajit Pai, made some interesting remarks that are worth following. He simply said; why not just get rid of the box totally? Good question. Most TV sets if not all have their own tuners, and manual controls. Almost all sets today have Internet connections. So why use a set top box if you already connect to the Internet and could have a simple APP?

That would open the system up totally. Then if you opened the CATV system, just a thought, and made it a common carrier...well you know where that goes!

Just a thought. Frankly there really is no need for the box any longer. We can manage our sets over the Internet already. So why not cable? And Pai is a lawyer at that.