WASHINGTON, D.C. – NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow today applauded the FCC’s release of a Public Notice to explore how it can encourage innovation in video devices and called for the full Commission to open a broader Notice of Inquiry to examine how it can achieve a robust retail marketplace for video devices that work with all video providers (cable, satellite and telco).

In a letter to William Lake, FCC Media Bureau Chief and Carlos Kirchner, Senior Advisor to the Chairman on Broadband, McSlarrow said, “We agree that a fully-competitive retail navigation device market has not yet developed – despite the persistent efforts of the Commission, the cable industry, and consumer electronics manufacturers and retailers. Perhaps more important, even if a retail market had developed, it would have been based on a video landscape that no longer resembles the highly-competitive marketplace of today—a world in which four of the ten largest multichannel video programming distributors are direct broadcast satellite and telephone companies who collectively serve more than 37 million customers.”

“Therefore, a Notice of Inquiry working to develop fresh approaches – especially approaches that cross multiple industry lines – should be pursued in concert with Commission policies that promote competition, innovation and other pro-consumer benefits,” McSlarrow said.

A copy of McSlarrow’s letter is attached.