The Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to unlock the cable-box market.
The details will be worked out in the coming months, but basically this means that you'll no longer have to rent a box directly from your provider — which will save the average person hundreds of dollars a year in rental fees on their cable bill.
Even more exciting? It also means cable boxes aren't going to suck anymore.
Anyone who's ever flipped through the channels on a cable-connected TV knows how bad most cable boxes are today. Their remote controls are clunky, their menus ugly, and their feature sets sorely lacking in good, innovative ideas.
But right next to the cable-box market is an industry bursting with good hardware and better ideas: the streaming-box market. Roku, Apple TV, and some smart TVs all handle video beautifully — and constantly introduce new features. Heck, even the PlayStation 3 in my apartment has a better interface than some cable boxes.
Even better, these aren't single-purpose devices. They play games, podcasts, and other online content.
The best part of these machines? Instead of paying exorbitant rental fees for them, you just buy them once and use them for as long as you like.
It doesn't take a great leap of the imagination to imagine how streaming-box makers could dominate an open cable-box market. An extra port and a little extra code could turn your streaming box into a beautiful, easy-to-use, all-in-one brain for your TV. Google has already demonstrated this kind of tech in a meeting with congressional staffers.
Or maybe some new player will come on the scene and blow all the existing hardware out of the water.
The cable companies may not love the wave of new devices, but we're willing to bet you will.
