Tag: Plug and Play

In last week’s post, I discussed the MPAA’s petition for waiver of the FCC’s ban on selectable output control (SOC).

At the end, I suggested that one possible outcome is that a content provider could shut down ALL your existing standardized output plugs, forcing you to buy a new TV, DVD player, and DVR with a special “MPAA-approved” connector plug in order to view their content.

To some people, it might have sounded like FUD, but this time the truth comes a little close for comfort.

Hot on the heels of the MPAA’s petition for waiver of the selectable output controls order by the FCC comes… movie theater owners? (PDF)

Right. They’re worried that streaming feature films direct to homes sooner than ever (but still one to two months after an exclusive theater release) could spell “the destruction of neighborhood movie theaters across the country” and “have a devastating effect on… consumers of motion pictures”. Them’s fightin’ words, Billy Joe!

It’s been a busy two days here in Las Vegas. Between keynote speeches, panel discussions, walking the floor and social events, there is little time to blog or sleep. I’ll write separately about some of the cool technologies I’ve seen here, and the pictures will have to wait for me to return to DC (I forgot the cable which connects my camera to my computer). In this post I want to focus on three announcements that relate to PK’s work:

I wanted to drop a note on a couple of recent developments since my post on right-to-attach last week. They are:

I’m an analog cable subscriber and was hoping to upgrade to an HDTV this holiday season, and apparently I’m not alone. Before I buy-in, I’ve been considering the freedom that “going digital” should give me compared to the old analog world. The primary reason I haven’t “upgraded” to digital cable up to this point comes down to TiVo, it and the freedom that devices like it that connect to an analog coax cable give me. Digital technology is supposed to deliver more, not less freedom, isn’t it? It’s not clear that upgrading to digital cable gives me the freedoms I’m used to.

Cable companies are saying they will raise rates following the FCC’s decision last Friday not to waive the set-top box integration ban. Details are scarce, but it appears likely that the rate hike will take the form of increased rental fees for cable-owned set-top boxes, and will take effect January.

The FCC recently denied NCTA’s request for a blanket waiver of the set-top box integration ban. The FCC press release states, “The [Media] Bureau finds the arguments NCTA[] makes are not adequately novel or changed from assertions that it has made to support previous extension requests to justify further relief and [do] not reflect developments in the market.”

John Eggerton at Broadcasting & Cable gives some details:

The cable industry has argued that the deadline will force them to deal with the old technology of CableCARD security hardware, which plugs into the boxes or TVs, while it is in the midst of developing a downloadable security system that is cheaper, easier, and more elegant.

You might have seen Mark Hughlett’s article “Change in set-top boxes could increase cable bill” in today’s In the News post.

Mr. Hughlett claims,

“What seems more certain is that consumers’ monthly cable bills are likely to rise a few dollars after the new rule takes effect. That’s because the cable box born from the regulation costs more to produce, a cost likely to get passed down to TV watchers, analysts and cable operators say.”

Let’s pick that paragraph apart. To begin, this isn’t a ‘new’ rule at all. The FCC is only trying to enforce the CableCARD provisions that it created years ago, and that the cable industry has skirted for just as long.

Nine public-interest and consumer groups today asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to limit the ability of cable operators to stifle competition through the set-top box.

The groups said that the cable industry, working through its CableLabs organization, is creating standards for two-way cable operation that will limit innovation and reduce consumer choice. Through its use of proprietary “OpenCable Application Platform” (OCAP) standard, cable companies are “giving the cable industry undue control over the customer’s equipment.” The letter asked for more opportunity for non-cable companies to create CableCARD devices allowing consumers more control over their two-way cable services.

This letter is also available in PDF format.

June 11, 2007

Chairman Kevin J. Martin
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St. SW
Washington, DC 20554

Re: CS Docket No. 97-80

Dear Chairman Martin:

The undersigned public interest organizations are writing to express our concerns with the cable industry’s plan to use the successor to CableCARD to limit competition and reduce choice in the consumer electronics marketplace. We appreciate your continued efforts to ensure that consumers benefit from the set-top box competition that Congress intended to promote in Section 629 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. We urge you to continue these efforts and to ensure that all voices are heard in the debate over what standards will guide the future of television.

Specifically, we request that the Commission begin a rulemaking proceeding to solicit comment on the Consumer Electronics Association’s November 7, 2006 “Proposal for Bi-Directional Digital Cable Compatibility and Related Issues” filed in the above-referenced docket. In addition, we ask that the Commission seek comment on ways to ensure that whatever technology replaces CableCARD does not restrict consumers’ right to make lawful use of the content they have purchased. Finally, consumers and consumer interest groups, and not just the cable and electronics industries, need to be part of this discussion. Therefore, we ask that the Commission require that all future industry negotiations concerning bidirectional cable compatibility include public interest representatives.