Wheeler Promises Speedy Resolution of Set-Top Fix

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said Monday that they have been assured by FCC chairman Tom Wheeler that he will move quickly in coming up with a new plan for creating a competitive set-top box market.

The senators released Wheeler's response to the request for that expedited action, which followed the passage last week of a satellite reauthorization bill that eliminated the FCC's integrated cable set-top box ban, which had been intended to spur that market but had failed to do so.

The law mandates that the FCC create a working group and come up with a successor, but Markey and Blumenthal put an exclamation point on the need for speed.

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John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.