Amazon Offers Set-Top Compromise, ACA Says Costs Prohibitive

staff from the Office of Media Relations and the Office of General Counsel. “In the interest of fostering consumer choice and spurring innovation in how consumers search, navigate, and consume their content, we urge the Commission to consider a solution that blends the two proposals," said Amazon in a filing posted Friday to docket 16-42. This approach would be secure, keep content protected, and give “customers choice in the short-term,” the company said. Various companies have been making and responding to filings in the docket as commission staff consider revising the NPRM's plan (see 1608260048). Requiring small cable providers to comply with new rules for either an apps-based set-top proposal or one based on the NPRM would be prohibitively expensive, the American Cable Association said in meetings last week with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and staff from the Media Bureau and offices of Media Relations and General Counsel. For either plan, small cable providers would have to offer their video through IP, which greatly increases the cost, ACA said. “ACA continues to believe that the Commission should exempt smaller MVPDs (those with one million or fewer subscribers) from complying with any new navigation device rule.” Numerous smaller cable companies, such as Dumont Telephone (see 1608220064) have also written to the FCC warning of the cost problems from the set-top plans, according to numerous filings in the docket.