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Comcast To Allow TV Customers To Ditch Set-Top Box (usatoday.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the throwing-money-away dept.

An anonymous reader writes: In response to the FCC's efforts to open up the pay-TV set-top box market, Comcast said today it will allow some of its subscribers to watch TV without leasing a set-top box. Customers with a Roku TV, Roku streaming media player, or 2016 Samsung Smart TV will be able to watch Comcast's TV programming through the Xfinity TV app embedded in the TV set or Roku devices later this year. However, customers will still have to subscribe to a standard cable TV package from Comcast's Xfinity brand. "We remain committed to giving our customers more choice in how, when and where they access their subscription," said Mark Hess, a Comcast senior vice president, in a prepared statement. The FCC has responded to Comcast's recent announcement saying in a statement, "While we do not know all of the details of this announcement, it appears to offer only a proprietary, Comcast-controlled user interface and seems to allow only Comcast content on different devices, rather than allowing those devices to integrate or search across Comcast content as well as other content consumers subscribe to."

3 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. I did this a year ago. by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Bought a HD Homerun that supported Cablecard. Installed that in the basement and use the Nexus Players in the bedrooms and the Living room to watch TV. The MythTV server in the basement records and the shows appear in the PLEX list. Works fantastic.

    Plus My way the recordings are not encrypted and kept locked away from me, so when I fly out to a customer's job I simply load what I want on my laptop and I have them in HD glory. I'm too cheap to pay for Plex Pass so I cant stream to my phone across the internet.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:I did this a year ago. by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Interesting
      This. I have no idea why this is news, or what is new about it. They were quite happy to let me turn in my set-top box in exchange for a cablecard. That was two years ago, now.

      The only not-fantastic part of the problem is that HD View cannot keep up with HD content on either of my PCs, and SiliconDust dropped support for HD Quick TV. I'm now using VLC which seems able to keep up.

  2. Because it's a natural monopoly by dlenmn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That won't work because this is a textbook example of a natural monopoly: almost all their costs are fixed (maintaining infrastructure) and the marginal cost per customer is basically zilch. (You turning on the TV costs them almost nothing.) Even without a government-granted monopoly, their monopoly status would happen naturally.

    Why is it a natural monopoly? Suppose you had two different companies, each with their own cables running down your street. The two CEOs would look at eachother and say: why are we wasting all this money maintaining two sets of cables. We should just merge, maintain just one set of cables (saving money in the process), and become a monopoly to boot! (Exercise for the reader: understand why not all situations lead to natural monopolies. E.g. why do we not have natural monopolies in grocery stores?)

    That might sound silly, but that's basically what we have now. Many houses have access to only two internet providers: the phone company and the cable company. Since TV signals are digital nowadays, they often offer the same services. The only thing keeping cable and phone companies from merging is government regulation.

    What's the best solution? I'm not sure, but taking away their monopoly status will not foster competition on it's own. In my area, it would just lead to an ATT-Charter merger, which sounds horrible...