Once President Trump installed his own guy as FCC chairman, however, a more industry-oriented mind-set took hold. He added: “These rules will open the door for innovation, spurring new apps and devices, giving consumers even more choice and user control.” If you want to pipe Verizon’s service directly to your smart TV, you can.” “If you want to watch DirectTV’s offerings through your Xbox, you can. “If you want to watch Comcast’s content through your Apple TV or Roku, you can,” Wheeler wrote in an op-ed in these pages. Pay-TV companies in turn would make free apps available to subscribers so they could access programming on any device. Wheeler’s solution was to establish uniform technical standards so any electronics manufacturer could make one-size-fits-all cable boxes. The collective tab for that racket was $20 billion a year.Īnd you had to keep paying, even after the pay-TV company recouped its bulk-rate investment in the gear.
In case you’ve forgotten, former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler noted in 2016 that the average pay-TV subscriber shelled out $231 a year to lease a set-top box from their service provider. I also wondered what happened to that push from the Federal Communications Commission to standardize set-top boxes and introduce much-needed competition into the marketplace.
That’s usually a sign someone in the executive suite is having a good laugh at our expense. The implication is that consumers shouldn’t worry their pretty heads about how much the boxes really cost. I find it intriguing that something as ubiquitous as set-top boxes, found in nearly all American homes, is shrouded in such mystery. And the cost of smart speakers keeps falling. She also wanted me to understand that “set-tops are premium devices” and are becoming “the digital nerve center of the ultra-connected home.”Īlexa and Siri might have something to say about that. “Arris will not participate in this story,” a company spokeswoman said.Ī couple of days later, I received an email from Jeanne Russo, Arris’ senior director of global communications, who more pleasantly explained that “we don’t share specifics on margins, manufacturing origins or average/median prices paid by our customers publicly, so we won’t be able to help you with those questions.” My inquiries were met at first with a thunderous “no comment.” I asked how much it costs the company on average to make a box. I also went knocking at the door of Arris International, the world’s largest supplier of set-top boxes to pay-TV companies. (Full disclosure: The Los Angeles Times is collaborating with Spectrum on a new L.A.-focused cable channel.)
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