STC wrote:Yeah... Thankfully the FCC does little over here to wreck things.
That said, our CRTC have their rectums clamped so hard around the two big players,- Bell and Rogers that our prices are ridiculous and our choices are limited.
As of now, all my broadcast channels are copy free. For how long I don't know, I suppose that is up to the individual local cable cos.
Far from wrecking things... The FCC has provided quite a bit of consumer protection over the decades. For example (one of many), we in the US have guaranteed access to CableCARD while you in Canada don't.
CableCARD was originally intended so that we could buy a TV with a CableCARD slot (or an STB at retail instead of leasing one from the cable provider). Unfortunately, very few TV's were ever produced with a CableCARD slot... which was disappointing for people who wanted access to their digital cable subscription without an STB.
Today, there aren't a lot of options when it comes to retail STB's either. TiVo is the leader in this segment, and even they have only sold units measured in the hundreds of thousands, compared to the millions of leased STB's.
The ATI TV Wonder OCUR tuner has been available for a number of years, but was initially only available with pre-built PC's. When Windows 7 was released, this restriction was removed. Ceton, SiliconDust, and Hauppauge produced multi-tuner OCUR's in 2011, finally making protected cable TV content available to almost anyone with a Windows 7 PC.
Without the FCC, none of this would have been possible. I don't think it's appropriate to disparage the FCC. They are the watchdog protecting our ability to use the content (for which we pay) on hardware that we've purchased and/or built, with the ability to watch it in multiple rooms of our houses... without endless lease payments. We may not agree with all of their decisions, and recently there have been some decisions that go against the spirit of their charter... but the FCC exists to protect us, the consumers. The decision in this case hurts us, but the FCC fought it for a decade. I think that's important to note.
The real foe here is Dish Network (formerly known as Echostar). Vote with your dollars.
I jest.
