Exempting movie studios from FCC selectable output control rules,...
Exempting movie studios from FCC selectable output control rules, as they seek, would “cripple lawful features on hundreds of millions” of HDTV sets, an electronics industry and consumer group coalition said late Wednesday. The Digital Freedom Campaign, which includes…
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the CEA, Free Press and Public Knowledge, said a waiver sought by the Motion Picture Association of America would give “big studios” the power to require “pay-TV providers to shut off any and all HDTV connections not specifically approved by the MPAA.” That, the coalition said, would make the more than 20 million HDTV sets with analog-only inputs “as obsolete as 8- track tape players.” At a meeting Nov. 25 with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, MPAA executives and former NAB chief Eddie Fritts offered what they described as the benefits of using selectable output controls, according to an ex parte filing. It said the CEA failed to provide “justification” for the FCC to deny the studios’ request, which is based on the studio’s “desire to strike the appropriate balance between consumer accessibility and content security.”