WASHINGTON — Federal regulators on Thursday delayed a vote on a proposal to reshape the television market by freeing consumers from cable box rentals, putting into doubt a plan that has pitted technology companies against cable television providers.
Members of the Federal Communications Commission could not agree on a set-top box proposal that requires cable operators to provide their shows and movies on alternative devices rather than just on a cable box. The plan was intended to bring more competition to the television industry and liberate consumers from an average of $231 in annual cable box fees.
The proposal will still be considered for a future vote. But Tom Wheeler, chairman of the F.C.C., said commissioners needed more discussions. Even late Wednesday evening, members of the F.C.C. were negotiating over disagreements and concerns over the proposal.
“It was simply a matter of running out of time,” Mr. Wheeler said in a news conference Thursday after the F.C.C.’s planned monthly meeting.
The window of opportunity for Mr. Wheeler to adopt his signature regulation on cable and satellite boxes is growing smaller. With the change of administration after the election, he is under pressure to pass through several ambitious regulations before the end of the year.
The set-top box plan appeared in jeopardy in thedays leading up to the vote as one commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel, expressed concern over potential copyright violations faced by television programmers. She said at a congressional hearing this month that the plan would make the F.C.C. too meddlesome in program licenses and that the agency might not have the legal authority to act as a watchdog over those agreements. It was a rare disagreement among the Democratic majority.
Ms. Rosenworcel, in a joint statement with the two other Democrats on the five-member commission, said on Thursday morning that she supported the goal of the proposal, to create more competition in the television box market.
“We are still working to resolve the remaining technical and legal issues and we are committed to unlocking the set-top box for consumers across this country,” the three commissioners said.
Jessica Rosenworcel, a Federal Communications Commission Commissioner, is questioning whether the agency has the authority to free people from their cable boxes.
Mandel Ngan / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Under the proposed rules, consumers would be able to watch cable shows on devices like a Roku or Apple TV, or on no devices at all with internet-enabled televisions. Getting rid of the cable box would make finding and watching YouTube and Netflix streaming videos as easy as viewing cable programs because they would be presented in what would look like just another app.
The proposal was introduced in January and was supported by President Obama and consumer groups. The regulations were the latest move by the F.C.C. to encourage online video and to bring more attention to the closed television industry dominated by cable, telecom and satellite companies.
But the plan had many detractors, including the cable and television industries, for which the cable box has been a lucrative business. Those industries began an expensive lobbying battle to defeat the rules over the last nine months, spending more than $10 million in the last quarter and hiring dozens of outside lobbyists to protest the plan to lawmakers and F.C.C. commissioners.
The Copyright Office and dozens of members of Congress also opposed the plan, raising concerns over copyright infringement and a disruption to their advertising deals if programs were given to third-party device makers. Hollywood studios have protested that they would lose control over their content with the proposal, hurting creators and studios.
“The M.P.A.A. is pleased that the F.C.C. is taking more time, and we hope they use it to ensure any set-top box proposal remains consistent with copyright policy and avoids harming creators,” said Chris Dodd, chairman of Hollywood’s trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America.
And recent changes made to address these concerns do “not solve the copyright, privacy, innovation and other significant concerns that were implicated in this discredited original proposal,” said David Cohen, Comcast’s senior executive vice president, adding that the plan “suffers from the same legal infirmities.”
The regulations would remove a crucial part of the cable television industry’s model of forcing consumers to rent the boxes that showcase their own bundle of channels, analysts say. Making cable programming another app on a device like a TiVo would expose viewers to more streaming content that is directly competing against the paid-TV bundle.
“This is the last gateway to the internet and this is a battle between open and closed platforms,” said Chip Pickering, president of Incompas, a lobbying group that represents Google and Amazon in support of the plan.
Backers of the plan were disappointed with the delay, which could put the proposal in jeopardy.
“Today’s vote delay is an unequivocal loss for the tens of millions of Americans across the country who are forced to spend their hard-earned money on overpriced set-top box leases that cost them hundreds of dollars a year,” said Senator Edward J. Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, in a statement on Thursday.
He has said consumers have been charged a combined $20 billion a year in forced rental fees.