[opendtv] The real Apple TV might finally happen if the FCC gets what it wants | The Verge

From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:47:21 -0400
I had not considered this...

Regards
Craig

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/28/7086473/a-real-apple-tv-might-finally-happen

The real Apple TV might finally happen if the FCC gets what it wants

There have been rumors of an actual Apple television ever since Steve Jobs told 
his biographer that he'd "cracked" the interface problem, but it's never been 
anywhere close to reality — you can't make a successful TV without actual TV 
programming, and getting that programming has usually meant you have to plug in 
a cable or satellite box. It doesn't matter who builds your TV if you're forced 
to use Comcast's cable box; you'll never see Apple's interface anyway. (Or 
Google's, or Microsoft's, or whatever — every company that's tried to attack 
the TV market by replacing or hacking the cable box has quickly failed, often 
in spectacular fashion.)

What Apple and the others have really needed is deals with all the TV networks 
to pipe in their channels directly, but it's never been able to get them — many 
TV networks are owned by cable companies, and no cable company wants to give up 
control of that primary interface, where it can bombard you with ads and movie 
rentals and other crap that makes money while chewing at the fabric of your 
soul.

But that might all change soon. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just proposed a rule 
change that would require cable and broadcast networks to sell their 
programming to any company that wants to be a TV provider, not just cable or 
satellite companies. That means Apple could set up an internet TV service and 
get all the channels it needs to actually replace your cable box — not just a 
handful of streaming deals like it has now, but a full-on TV package. Microsoft 
could do the same thing and properly integrate live TV into the next version of 
the Xbox One, instead of the ill-fated IR blaster hack shipping now. And Google 
could actually deliver on the promise of Google TV, instead of wiping out so 
hard it almost crushed Logitech into a fine powder.

a wonky legal rule change that could have huge effects

This is a wonky legal tweak — Wheeler just wants to expand the definition of 
"multichannel video programming distributor" so that it's not specifically tied 
to cable and satellite companies — but it will have huge effects. Allowing tech 
companies to properly compete against the entrenched interests of cable 
companies will rapidly improve the quality of our TV experience: we'll see 
better integration with our other devices, new interface ideas that actually 
work, and we'll finally finally be able to ditch our gigantic crappy cable 
boxes.

The new rule isn't a done deal yet; Wheeler just proposed the change today, and 
there's a lengthy process to go through. But it's an important change to make; 
TVs haven't meaningfully evolved since the DVR first came out, and it's time to 
tear down the barriers that have kept the tech industry at bay for so long.

Also, somewhere Gene Munster is doing a happy dance.
[opendtv] The real Apple TV might finally happen if the FCC gets what it wants | The Verge

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