{"id":100203,"date":"2016-05-05T17:50:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=100203"},"modified":"2016-05-06T13:06:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T18:06:17","slug":"100203","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=100203","title":{"rendered":"61 Members of Congress object to FCC proposed regs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CramerKevinCongress2016\"<\/a>WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Kevin Cramer (ND) is leading a bipartisan group with 60 other Members of Congress in objecting to proposed regulations, known as the set-top box rules, mandating pay TV companies such as cable and satellite television providers share their raw video programming with third-party set-top box competitors.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent today to Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Members of Congress objected to the additional burden these new regulations will impose on pay TV providers. They highlighted their concern over the economic hardship this regulation would impose on small businesses and their consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the FCC wants to stifle innovation and competition, imposing another government mandate on cable operators is the way to do it,\u201d said Cramer. \u201cThe FCC\u2019s set-top box proposal fails to acknowledge that cable providers are already seeking new innovative technologies for their customers. In my state of North Dakota, small video operators do not have teams of lawyers whose sole purpose is to meet new FCC compliance standards. Instead of more unwieldy regulations, Chairman Wheeler should focus on helping providers bring more competition into the video marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

One small family-owned cable business in North Dakota is among the pay TV providers to express concern about this proposal. \u201cWe truly appreciate the efforts of Rep. Cramer and all Members of Congress who recognize that the FCC’s efforts on the set-top box market will add hundreds of millions of dollars of regulations on small businesses and create widespread confusion among our consumers,\u201d said Roy Sheppard, president of Cable Services, Inc., headquartered in Jamestown, N.D.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a family-owned cable business in North Dakota since 1964, we have participated in the constant evolution of technology to serve the needs of our customers at affordable prices,\u201d said Sheppard. \u201cThe FCC should let the market work as it is doing today to give consumers the video and broadband choice that they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheppard praised Cramer and the other Members of Congress objecting to this proposed rulemaking. \u201cThey know that when Washington regulates, small companies and communities, and consumers served by small companies like ours, are hurt the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cramer serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC and the telecommunications industry. Prior to his election to the House of Representatives in 2012, he spent 10 years as a North Dakota Public Service Commissioner. The response period for the proposed rulemaking ends May 23. The FCC has indicated a final rule will be issued before the end of 2016.<\/p>\n

Cramer Press Release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Kevin Cramer (ND) is leading a bipartisan group with 60 other Members of Congress in objecting to proposed regulations, known as the set-top box rules, mandating pay TV companies such as cable and satellite television providers share their raw video programming with third-party set-top box competitors. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":100204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100203"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100242,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100203\/revisions\/100242"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/100204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}