Google Wants FCC to Promote Competition in IP Enabled Set-Tops

The FCC should update its rules to promote competition among set-top devices that integrate pay-TV content with over-the-top services, said former FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick in an ex parte filed on Google's behalf Monday in docket 10-91. He said the FCC “should promote development of open, standard protocols that allow for devices that let consumers fully benefit from their [multichannel video programming distributor] subscriptions while integrating content accessed from the Internet.” Such rules would allow consumers to use “lower-cost or technically superior” devices and encourage innovation that “has yet to develop for navigation devices,” Schlick said. The FCC should create "open, standard protocols" for navigation devices that have "industry wide applicability," said the filing.