Vote On Proposal To Open TV Set-Top Box Market To Internet Competitors Delayed

WASHINGTON DC – Federal regulators on Thursday delayed a vote on a proposal to overhaul the market for TV set-top boxes, dealing a major setback to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on one of his top priorities for the year.

The delay, coming so close to an election that will usher in a new administration, could prove a major blow to the proposal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Wheeler’s planned overhaul is aimed at opening up the market for set-top boxes, now dominated by cable TV companies. He would require these companies to make their television feeds available as apps to other potential device manufacturers, such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, as well as smart-TV makers.

Cable TV companies as well as media companies have waged a major fight to defeat the plan or scale it back significantly. Many of their objections were legal and technical, but underlying those concerns was a basic fear that Wheeler’s proposal could disrupt their longstanding, lucrative business models.