“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.