The cable set-top box, long a scourge of consumers and a moneymaker for cable companies, appears set for a makeover.
The FCC Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday announced a proposal allowing cable and satellite subscribers to pick the devices they use to watch programming. Nearly all customers now must get their boxes from their cable companies, and they pay an average of $231 a year to lease the devices.
The move could have broad implications for the industry, allowing Google, Amazon and Apple, for instance, to expand their footprints in the media industry with devices that would blend Internet and cable programming in a way the television industry has resisted. The reactions on Wednesday reflected those possibilities: The technology industry widely cheered the proposal, while the cable industry criticized it.
The FCC, though, said its focus was on improving people’s television experience. The clunky technology of cable boxes, and the burdensome requirements of long-term contracts, have long been a source of customer complaints. Tech companies like Apple and Amazon make devices that connect to televisions and have new interfaces, but they provide streaming Internet video and do not replace the cable box.
“It’s time to unlock the set-top box market — let’s let innovators create, and then let consumers choose,” Tom Wheeler, chairman of the FCC, wrote of the proposal on the technology news site Recode. The FCC estimates that prices for the devices rose 185 percent over 20 years, even as prices for smartphones and other electronics plunged.
The FCC said the agency’s five commissioners would vote on the proposal on Feb. 18. The proposal will most likely have the support of the three Democratic commissioners, including Mr. Wheeler, and will be opposed by the two Republican commissioners.
Tech companies have pushed a vision of TV viewing that would look and feel more like a smartphone interaction, with users selecting and using apps rather than scrolling through hundreds of channels on cable TV. Netflix and Amazon have also challenged the industry head-on, offering original programming and streaming-video packages that have led consumers to cut their cable subscriptions all together.
The proposed rule would require cable and satellite providers to give device makers access to cable and satellite programming. While that is possible today, cable and satellite companies often impose restrictions on third-party device makers. As a result, there has been a virtual lock on the set-top box market by cable and satellite companies, with 99 percent of their users leasing one or more boxes from them.
Last year, Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, both Democrats, investigated the cable set-top box market. They estimated that the cable industry, with its hidden fees and long-term contracts, generated $20 billion in annual revenue from the box rentals.
“Consumer choice should fuel the video box market, not cable company control,” Senator Markey said on Wednesday. “I commend Chairman Wheeler for his proposal to help ensure that consumers are not captive to bloated rental fees forever.”
Senior officials at the agency said the plan would not affect contracts between cable and media companies. Consumers would still have to pay their satellite and cable provider for their programming. The cable bundle, in which people pay for dozens or hundreds of stations or none at all, is expected to remain in place.
Still, media executives expressed concern that the change could undermine the foundation of their businesses. The concern is that the new arrangement could negate contracts between cable companies and entertainment companies, in which the cable companies pay television groups billions of dollars a year for the rights to distribute programming. Those contracts stipulate how the programming can be distributed, for instance, whether it is included in video-on-demand packages, how it is branded, certain copyright protections and the treatment of advertising.
The executives said the proposal could allow a new set of companies, like Google or Apple, to step in to distribute and sell ads in and around television programming that they neither paid to create, or license. A set-top box can control the flow of data on users’ viewing habits, the sort of information that is at the heart of Google’s business.
“Distributors will be forced to reconsider what they pay for programs that can be siphoned off, repackaged and resold, drying up the revenue needed to underwrite quality shows,” said Alfred C. Liggins, the chief executive of TV One, a digital cable and satellite network that serves 57 million households. “These arrangements — including critical terms such as channel placement, advertising, scheduling and more — are the lifeblood of the video marketplace today.”
Opponents of the proposal also said that the industry was already providing more streaming options and the F.C.C. did not need to intervene to spur innovation. In November, Time Warner Cable, for instance, began a trial offering its cable television lineup through devices made by Roku. Charter Communications also offers subscribers the ability to stream TV through a Roku App. Cox Communications, an Atlanta-based cable company, allows customers to view programming through TiVo.
At the same time, television networks like HBO, Showtime and CBS have introduced a range of à la carte offerings that allow people to subscribe to an individual network without paying for the full cable bundle.
Efforts to hand over programming to tech firms would “slam the brakes on this progress and harm consumers,” Nomi Bergman, president of Bright House Networks, said. “It’s the ultimate example of the government trying to fix something that isn’t broken.”
Trade groups representing Google, Amazon and TiVo say the set-top-box industry would inject fresh competition into the TV market, leading to more options and lower prices for consumers. Mr. Wheeler, who has favored rules that support streaming-video providers, is expected to act with haste to make sure the rules are adopted before he leaves his job. His term could end next year.
If approved, consumers will most immediately see its effects in their pocketbooks, advocates say. They could start using just one device to access video content — whether it be Internet streaming or cable television.
Marta Tellado, president and chief executive of Consumer Reports, said the changes were long overdue.
“With the ever-increasing price of cable and all of the advances in technology,” she said, “why should consumers have to keep renting a set-top box?”
