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WASHINGTON, DC 20510 
The Honorable Tom Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 l21h Street SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Wheeler: 
November 9, 2015 
We are writing to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address the future of 
competition in the marketplace for video set top boxes, which millions of Americans use to 
access television programming. According to information received from the top 10 multichannel 
video programming distributors (MVPDs), these providers annually charge consumers nearly 
$20 billion in rental fees for set top boxes. Almost all MVPD customers rent these video boxes 
from their provider, and each American household spends on average $232 per year on video 
box rental fees alone. We believe the time has arrived for the FCC to enable millions of 
Americans to access an enormous amount of content in innovative, new, and less costly ways. 
Congress intended to provide Americans with choices when it passed the Telecommunications 
Act of 1996. The law instructed the FCC to ensure the commercial availability of equipment 
capable of accessing video programming. Section 629 of the Act succeeded in spurring an 
entirely new way to record video with DVR becoming as ubiquitous today as VCR was in the 
1990s. However, at a time when smartphones, personal computers and tablets have 
revolutionized the way Americans go about their daily lives and conduct business, set top boxes 
have Jagged behind, leaving this potential partially unfulfilled. Besides promoting innovation, 
Congress also intended to unleash a future in which consumers had many video box choices, 
irrespective of their pay-TV provider. Unfortw1ately, consumers today enjoy little choice but to 
lease a box from their MVPD. 
Last year, Congress passed the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization 
(STELAR), which repealed the integration ban that requires MVPDs to honor consumers' ability 
to use their own set top boxes. At the same time, STELAR also recognjzed the need to develop a 
new standard to promote a competitive set top box retail market The law established a working 
group to recommend technical capabilities and standards for a software-based downloadable 
security system that could replace CableCARD, the current way for consumers to use a set top 
box other than one leased from their MVPD. We applaud the swiftness with which the 
Commission formed the working group, which has now submitted its final report. 
We call on the Commission to move as quickly as possible to initiate a rulemaking that ensures 
that Americans can use set top boxes of their choice to access MVPD programming. We 
strongly encourage the Commission to ensure that this replacement technology is cheap, 
efficient, widely available and easy to use. The goal of this technology should be to usher in a 
new wave of innovation in the set top box marketplace, giving consumers a greater number of 
cheaper options to buy their own set top boxes. Without strong FCC action, consumers may be 
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left with no choice but to rent set top boxes from their MVPD providers in perpetuity, which is 
akin to the days when consumers had no choice but to rent their rotary dial telephone from the 
telephone company. 
Please provide us with a written response by December 4, 2015, about your plans to boost the 
competitive set top box marketplace and improve consumer choice. Thank you for your 
consideration of thls important issue, and we look forward to your response. 
Sincerely, 
~~·~ 
United States Senator 
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Richard Blumenthal 
United States Senator 
Al Franken 
United States Senator 
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Cory A. Booker 
United States Senator 
Bernard Sanders 
United States Senator 
Ron~~ 
United States Senator 
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Maria Cantwell 
United States Senator \ 
Unite States Senator 
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