NCTA President & CEO Kyle McSlarrow has just finished testifying before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet on the issue of “Competitive Availability of Navigation Devices,” as covered by the National Broadband Plan. You can see a written copy of his testimony here.

In his testimony, Kyle referenced the seven principles that NCTA submitted to the FCC, outlining a foundation for Commission and inter-industry efforts to support innovation and consumer access to video services, from any source:

1. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access their multichannel provider’s video services without a set-top box supplied by that provider.
2. Consumers should also have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access any multichannel provider’s video services through an interface solution offered by that provider.
3. Consumers should have the option to access video content from the Internet through their multichannel provider’s video devices and retail video devices.
4. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can search for video content across multiple content sources, including content from their multichannel provider, the Internet, or other sources.
5. Consumers should have the option to easily and securely move video content between and among devices in their homes.
6. Consumers should be assured the benefits of continuous innovation and variety in video products, devices, and services provided by multichannel providers and at retail.
7. To maximize consumer benefits and to ensure competitive neutrality in a highly dynamic marketplace, these principles should be embraced by all video providers, implemented flexibly to accommodate different network architectures and diverse

As Kyle said, the cable industry is committed to providing video content to consumers where and when they want it, on all possible consumer devices, and for those devices to be innovative platforms for new applications. We look forward to working with the FCC on these issues.