Obama officially backs FCC’s new initiative for cable box competition

Apr15

by Sindy Cator on April 15, 2016 at 5:29 pm

In February, the FCC voted in favor of loosening cable’s grip on set-top boxes. Today, President Obama offered a show of support to the initiative that sought to give consumers greater control of how they access their favorite channels. The “Unlock the Box” initiative sought to encourage competition and promote innovation by giving consumers choice in what box they’d like to use to access cable television. Currently, cable companies are pocketing an average of $231 per household in lease fees each year on boxes that are “required” to access cable television service. Under the new plan, consumers could select from a wide…