FCC Gives CableCARD Waivers to Four Set-Top Makers
Cisco, Motorola and two other major set-top box makers got CableCARD waivers from the FCC allowing all U.S. cable operators to deploy any of nine stripped-down models over the next three years. A Media Bureau order released Tuesday made good on a promise by the full commission this summer, in granting a small manufacturer’s waiver, that the bureau would deal quickly with similar requests from other companies (CD June 3 p10). The CEA opposes this week’s waiver order but doesn’t now plan to file a petition for reconsideration, a spokeswoman said. Small cable operators are among those likely to benefit, American Cable Association President Matt Polka told us.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The ruling cited a precedent set in the June 1 waiver for Evolution Broadband. Cisco, Motorola, Pace and Thomson made similar requests less than two weeks later. Representatives of the four companies certified that their “low-cost, limited capability set-top boxes” were no more advanced than the two Evolution models exempted from separating navigation and security, the bureau said. Responding to Public Knowledge concerns that the four petitioners hadn’t provided the full specifications of the boxes, the companies showed the devices can’t support “advanced capabilities,” the order said.
“Petitioners state that it would be impossible for a software upgrade to allow these boxes to provide more than one-way, non-HD, non-DVR services,” the document said. “The Petitioners’ replies should alleviate Public Knowledge’s concerns,” because the boxes lack hardware needed for two-way communications, HD output, cable modem support, multiple tuners or a hard drive expansion for DVR service. But major hardware changes could change the outcome, the bureau said. “We clarify that such a modification would effectively make the Subject Boxes different devices, and this waiver only applies to the devices at issue.”
A footnote in the order reminded cable operators that FCC plug-and-play rules apply to them. “They ultimately are responsible for compliance with our rules (e.g. making available and supporting CableCARDs, using CableCARDs in all devices except for the Subject Boxes,” said the order, signed by bureau Chief Bill Lake. The waiver applies to Cisco’s Digital Transport Adaptor 30, 50 and 70, Motorola DTA-100 and -100u models, Thomson DCI104 and 105 and Pace DC50x and xu. The waiver noted that, contrary to instructions in the public notice, the CEA and two other commenters discussed only the policy implications of matters in the Evolution order.
This waiver, the one for Evolution and an FCC switched digital video order “raise serious questions about the commission’s commitment to assure the development of a market for competitive retail set-top boxes,” said the CEA spokeswoman. “Consumers lose when the FCC fails to enforce Section 629 of the Communications Act and deny them the benefits of competition. We look forward to working with the new administration and the Congress to reverse this troubling trend.”
The waiver helps “low-end set-top boxes, which lock in advantages the cable companies already have while offering consumers set-top boxes with fewer features than they might otherwise get in an open market,” Public Knowledge said. The FCC should promote an “open, competitive market for full-featured set-top boxes … rather than continually lowering the bar through the waiver process.” A spokesman said Public Knowledge is “evaluating the order and looking at our options” but wouldn’t say whether it would seek reconsideration.
Smaller cable operators in small markets are among those most likely to use the basic set-top boxes to reduce costs as they move toward all-digital networks, said the ACA’s Polka. An NCTA spokesman declined to comment. Cisco sees “broad interest in [digital transport adaptors] across the industry” among “large and small operators,” said a company spokeswoman. “We are in active discussions with many” and “anticipate demand to be strong as operators move forward with DTA plans.”
When Michael Copps was acting chairman and now under Chairman Julius Genachowski, the commission “has taken an active role in reviewing these waiver requests and providing them because frankly I hope they see this will spur and speed the development of technology in these smaller markets for a more efficient digital platform,” Polka said. “It saves them the step of having to go from the one-way box to the very expensive CableCARD-enabled boxes as they plan their migration to all-digital.”