FCC Seeks Comment on NCTA, CEA Plug-and-Play Plans
Lack of two-way plug-and-play cable devices may keep consumers from buying digital TVs, the FCC said late Friday. This makes it crucial for there to be standards for the cable and consumer electronics industries, the agency said. This analysis appeared in a notice of proposed rulemaking with a twist, as the regulator asked if plug-and-play standards should apply to gear used not only with cable but also with satellite TV, IPTV networks and Bell pay-TV services. The cable and consumer electronics industries have made dueling proposals on such standards. Now, the FCC wants comment on them.
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The agency said its goal is to hasten retail availability of interactive program guides and other products for cable subscribers. The decision to widen the request for comments to all video devices marked a small win for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA). The group had asked the FCC to assess the market for devices for all pay-TV providers, not just cable. “We applaud the FCC for agreeing that comments should be sought on all proposals for digital cable ready two-way devices, including our proposal of November 2005,” said NCTA. “We're also pleased that the Commission, as we suggested, is seeking comment on other approaches that ensure ‘plug-and-play’ products can be used by subscribers to all video providers.”
The notice seemed to favor neither the NCTA nor the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) proposal. Some at the commission and in industry had feared a tilt toward the CEA plan. The commission hopes retailers will sell two-way digital devices by the fourth quarter of 2008, in time for the holiday shopping season. That would let people buy devices before the Feb. 17, 2009, digital transition, said the notice: “The impending hard deadline increases the urgency of examining proposed bidirectional standards.”
Talks seem stalled between cable and consumer electronics industries on plug-and-play standards, the FCC said. “The industries appear to have made little progress and it does not appear that an agreement is imminent,” it said. A plug-and-play system is needed to avoid hiccups in the digital transition, Commissioner Michael Copps stressed. “The absence of plug-and-play capability may discourage some consumers from investing in new digital equipment at precisely the time we are attempting to minimize the legacy analog equipment in the marketplace,” Copps said in a written statement, calling plug-and-play an FCC “priority.” The FCC approved the rulemaking on circulation Wednesday (CD Jun 29 p13). On Thursday, CEA cheered the notice.