Hatch adds to GOP concerns about FCC box plan

A another senior Republican senator is hitting the Federal Communications Commission over concerns related to its proposal to open up the market for set-top boxes.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said in a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler he was “particularly concerned that the proposed rules could upend” agreements between video distributors and content providers.

{mosads}He noted the growth in the streaming video business — driven by the rise of services like Netflix — which he said was forcing traditional video providers, like cable companies, to innovate.

“Unfortunately, many believe that if something is on the Internet it must be free,” he said. “Producing and distributing video content, however, is not only costly — it also requires a legal framework to license that content.

“Approaches that ignore the need for licensing or undercut existing licensing agreements will likely increase costs for consumers, reduce choices, and discourage innovation.”

Hatch is a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and serves as Senate president pro tempore.

The proposal would require video providers like Comcast or Charter Communications, who on Wednesday formally bought Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, to open up their feeds to other companies that wanted to produce set-top boxes for Americans to access live television programming.

Google and TiVo, which could make money by manufacturing a box, support reforms to the marketplace. The Obama administration has also endorsed the plan.

Major video providers — who make billions by renting the boxes to consumers — oppose the reforms, saying instead that the FCC should look to eliminate set-top boxes entirely in favor of applications.

Hatch’s letter comes days after Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) wrote to Wheeler and White House Counsel Neil Eggleston to ask about President Obama’s support for the FCC plan. Some conservatives allege that the White House exerted an undue influence on the independent FCC, a seperate concern from those who take issue with the substance of the proposal.

“Irrespective of the underlying merits of the FCC’s proposal, I am troubled by claims that administration officials are inappropriately pressuring an independent agency to pick winners and losers in the marketplace,” Cornyn wrote.

Skeptics of the plan also include some Democrats, who say the FCC should stop considering the proposal before its effects can be studied.

The commission voted to formally consider the proposal earlier this year. It will have to vote again before the rules could go into effect.