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FCC Votes To Fight Cable's Reign Over Set-top Boxes (engadget.com)
Last month, reports surfaced that the FCC planned to pry set-top boxes out of hands of cable and satellite companies. Today, the Commission passed the 'Unlock the Box' plan that would do just that. The proposal aims to introduce more competition when it comes to the boxes users rent from television providers. Under the new rules, cable companies would have to give third-party device makers the information they'd need in order to build set-top boxes.
See, back in the day I built my own DVR with an NTSC tuner card and a Linux box. When they made it next to impossible to build your own DVR - I quit.
That's right, I haven't had cable or satellite in years.
I now watch whatever I think deserves my attention (not much) via Netflix, Amazon, occasionally the network/show website, or buy buying the disks when it comes out. Hulu was sort of in the mix for a while but I refuse to pay for commercials so it's off the list. I understand they may have a commercial free option now, I haven't bothered to look.
If you really want to send a signal to these companies that you don't like being manipulated into getting their unnecessary spy^H^H^H tuning equipment you can start by not accepting their tuning equipment and keeping the dollars they so desire.
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It seems clear that the whole need for a set top box is artificial, and that it s actually just another mechanism to justify the cable company adding another fee to your cable bill.
All TVs already come with digital tuners, so serious question: Why can't they just legislate that cable companies have to supply standard QAM to the consumer, then we can do away with the whole stupid intermediate box thing entirely, and all the extra power/heat/cables/remotes that it requires and consumes too.