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The FCC is trying to save you hundreds on your cable bill

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A Time Warner Cable sign and logo are seen on a Time Warner Cable store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, May 26, 2015. Charter Communications Inc, controlled by cable industry pioneer John Malone, offered to buy Time Warner Cable Inc for $56 billion, seeking to combine the No. 3 and No. 2 U.S. cable operators to compete against market leader Comcast Corp.
REUTERS/Mike Segar

If you have cable TV, you're probably overpaying to rent a set-top box from your cable company – likely to the tune of hundreds of dollars a year.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is about to change that.

In a Wednesday press release, the FCC announced a proposal to ban anti-competitive cable company hardware practices. The new rule would open up the set-top box market to third-party innovators. Their case for the regulation is simple:

Ninety-nine percent of pay-TV subscribers are chained to their set-top boxes because cable and satellite operators have locked up the market. Lack of competition has meant few choices and high prices for consumers – on average, $231 in rental fees annually for the average American household. Altogether, U.S. consumers spend $20 billion a year to lease these devices. Since 1994, according to a recent analysis, the cost of cable set-top boxes has risen 185 percent while the cost of computers, televisions and mobile phones has dropped by 90 percent.

If the proposal goes into effect, cable companies will have to share key information with third-party box and app makers. This would bring cable companies – notorious for their monopolistic practices – in line with much of the tech industry.

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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made the case for the regulation in an essay for Re/code. He pointed out that phone companies have had to follow similar rules for the better half of a century:

Decades ago, if you wanted to have a landline in your home, you had to lease your phone from Ma Bell. There was little choice in telephones, and prices were high. The FCC unlocked competition and empowered consumers with a simple but powerful rule — consumers could connect the telephones and modems of their choice to the telephone network. Competition and game-changing innovation followed, from lower-priced phones to answering machines to technology that is the foundation of the Internet.

In 2007, the Commission opened up wireless networks to non-carrier-provided devices. You can now choose which smartphone or tablet you want to use. Similarly, you’ve been able to choose your own cable modem and Wi-Fi router for years.

Should pay-TV continue to be an exception? I believe, and Congress has made clear, the answer is no. You should have choices in how you access the video programming you are paying for, as well.

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He's sure come a long way from 2014, when he was forced to publicly deny his status as a baby-eating wild dog from down under.

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