The FCC will likely decide by November between competing cable in...

that uses OCAP as standardized middleware layer, and a rival proposal from the CE industry that makes it optional in plug-and-play units. The CE industry’s proposal for a DCR+ platform that would cost the cable industry “hundreds of millions” of dollars to upgrade hardware and network equipment to comply, said Kevin Leddy, senior vice president for strategy and development at Time Warner Cable. It would also likely force cable companies to drop features like Time Warner’s “Start Over” time-shifting service, which lets users pause and rewind programs in progress, and caller ID, available to customers who buy an MSO’s phone service, Leddy said. Time Warner launched Start Over in Columbia, S.C., and has expanded it to 16 markets, including Texas, Leddy said. CEA has countered that DCR+ lets devices have a “limited set” of interactive features including video-on-demand, impulse pay-per-view and switched broadcast video, without the OpenCable platform. It also has argued that DCR+ would permit access to all interactive services offered by MSOs through OpenCable, but with “minor modifications to that technology and its licensing agreements.” MSOs are deploying OCAP-compatible set-top boxes from Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung and Scientific- Atlanta at a premium of “a few dollars” over existing models, Leddy said. Time Warner has shipped 150,000 OCAP-enabled S-A and Samsung STBs in 10 markets, including 50,000 in N.Y., Leddy said. Samsung has supplied “a little north” of 30,000 STBs for the New York market and is in discussions with Time Warner on an HD-capable model featuring a 160 GB hard drive, Leddy said. Time Warner also tested OCAP in a Samsung 56W DLP-based rear projection TV in two markets, but the project was scrapped this year in part because of the $300 premium (CED April 30p1). NCTA officials said they were surprised by Samsung’s decision, since the cost of adopting OCAP will drop as manufacturing volumes increase. Comcast also has trials in several markets using Panasonic’s OCAP STB. The first OCAP-enabled products, including STBs and TVs, will arrive in late 2008, said Mark Coblitz, senior vice president for strategy at Comcast. Panasonic showed a 42W plasma set to the FCC earlier this fall, he said. Though the OCAP-based plasma set will be sold at retail, STBs will continue to be leased by MSO customers, Coblitz said. Comcast has tested Panasonic’s STB in the Denver, Colo., Derry, Mass., Union, N.J., and Willow Grove, Pa., markets. MSOs have said they want avoid the pitfalls that have dogged one-way CableCARD- ready CE products, only about 280,000 on which have been activated in TVs, though about 4 million have been bought, NCTA officials said. The cable industry also is pushing for a device about the size of a paperback book that would be supplied by each pay-TV provider to connect to a CE product and provide access to services from MSOs, telcos and satellite operators, industry said. The device will would based on a single chip and is “a few years” from hitting the market, Coblitz said.