Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is a fan of Comcast's plan to bring its TV service to customers without traditional set-top boxes. Comcast putting set-top box functionality into Samsung smart TVs and Roku devices without charging a monthly set-top box fee "points the way forward" and proves that industry complaints about proposed FCC rules are misguided, Wheeler said in a press conference after yesterday's FCC meeting.

In February, the FCC took a preliminary vote on rules requiring pay-TV companies to make their content and programming information available to makers of third-party hardware or applications. Cable companies blasted the FCC proposal, but last week Comcast launched a program to make its TV service available on other set-top boxes.

"I think that what Comcast just did is proving our point that you can take a third-party device, put set-top box functionality into it, and protect copyright, protect the economic ecosystem, not have to rebuild the network, and all these other horrible things that the industry has [claimed would happen]," Wheeler said yesterday. "That is the essence of our proposal, that you can safely move content to a third-party device."

Comcast sees things differently, arguing that its new "Xfinity TV Partner App" for third-party devices shows that government mandates aren't necessary. "The Chairman suggests that our app shows why his proposal can work, but the opposite is true," Comcast said in a statement provided to Ars. "The Chairman’s proposal favors a government-imposed set-top box mandate that goes well beyond expanding equipment options for consumers to instead taking apart existing video services to create new services."

Comcast argued that the FCC plan exceeds its rulemaking authority and "creates numerous harms—increasing consumer costs, weakening content security, eroding privacy and other consumer protections, and undermining intellectual property rights and content licensing agreements." Comcast says its own plan "proves the viability of a market-driven apps-based approach, which avoids the major issues with the hardware-based approach of the Commission’s Notice."

Comcast says its TV app can be implemented into any consumer electronics device that supports HTML5 and other compatibility requirements. While Samsung and Roku are the launch partners, Comcast said that "dozens of companies" have reached out to Comcast since its announcement, "further demonstrating the success of the marketplace apps-based approach that is occurring without heavy-handed government regulation."

Wheeler argued in his press conference that a mandate is still necessary because Comcast could pull the plug on third-party devices at any time. He pointed out that a previous Comcast TV app for Samsung smart TVs was discontinued in August 2015. "So that which Comcast giveth, Comcast can taketh away," Wheeler said.

The FCC's proposal would require the industry to create a software-based replacement for CableCard, letting makers of any third-party device or application build a service that displays the TV channels a cable customer has paid for. The FCC could issue final rules later in 2016, but companies would have two years to comply.

Comcast's announcement only benefits customers of Comcast who own certain devices, Wheeler said. "This is for one company's device and one cable company," Wheeler said. "So if you have proven the concept that you can put set-top box functionality safely into third-party devices, then let's make sure that applies to all cable companies."

Previous industry efforts to move beyond the rented set-top box without a government mandate haven't gotten very far, Wheeler said. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts claimed in 2008 that “the age of the closed, proprietary cable set-top box is behind us, and the era of an open, two-way cable platform is here." The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) supported a more competitive video device market in 2010, yet today 99 percent of customers still rent set-top boxes from their pay-TV providers, Wheeler said.

The NCTA has threatened to sue the FCC if it follows through on its set-top box plan. But the cable lobby has already lost three times in cases involving similar issues, Public Knowledge Senior VP Harold Feld wrote in a blog post.

Wheeler, who has occasionally joked about the telecom industry's various lawsuits against the FCC, feigned shock yesterday when asked about a potential lawsuit. "Did you say that we might get sued?" Wheeler said. "We've never had that experience before."