The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“The FCC should be commended for acting today to help consumers gain access to programming that has been denied to them by a quirk in communications law. The so-called ‘terrestrial loophole’ allowed cable operators to withhold programming from competitors, to the detriment of consumers and of competition.
“The Commission relies heavily on the importance of video for broadband adoption. This underscores the importance of taking direct steps to encourage competition, investment and innovation in online video such as those previously recommended by Public Knowledge to promote the development of Internet-delivered, so-called ‘over-the-top’ video competitors and promote innovation and investment in set-top box applications and attachments.
“We hope the Commission will take a similar view to allowing and encouraging competition in the developing world of Internet-delivered programming. We have filed with the FCC that it adopt new rules for set top boxes and adopt rules that will give ‘over the top’ video providers such as Netflix and Amazon access to cable programming.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.