Cable, CE Set-top Efficiency Expands to Telcos, DBS, May Target Broadband Gear

The cable industry will expand its earlier commitment to start testing set-tops capable of shutting down almost completely so it will begin deploying those deep-sleep video devices in 2016. The new deal almost doubles the number of pay-TV subscribers who use the companies now part of the accord, to 90 million, industry executives estimated. It also will include public disclosure of efficiency to MVPD subscribers.

The companies will meet with an eye to a further expansion that could include broadband modems, routers and gateway devices that serve as hubs connecting a household and its TVs and Internet Protocol devices to broadband, according to interviews Thursday with cable, CE and DBS executives and a voluntary agreement released then (http://xrl.us/bn46yj). The Department of Energy has been planning a rulemaking on energy efficiency standards for set-tops (CD Nov 5 p9) that MVPDs and suppliers hoped would have been averted by a deal on deep-sleep box deployment that failed to materialize when industry/advocate talks broke down in late October.

Those same advocates said the new deal isn’t enough, and they continue hoping DOE will propose rules. Advocates said they look forward to the next version of EnergyStar energy efficiency standards from the Environmental Protection Agency. EPA had slowed down finalization of version 4.0, which had been planned for next summer, and CE and MVPD executives say they hope that will lead the agency to change standards so they encompass a wider array of devices than the current version envisioned. They said such advanced devices include residential networking gear like servers for broadband and video service. DOE and EPA spokespeople had no comment.

"Longer-term plans remain quite vague” to Natural Resources Defense Council Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz, a primary negotiator in industry/advocate talks that ended this fall, he said. There’s no “acknowledgment or commitment to buy” set-top boxes meeting the forthcoming EnergyStar version 4.0 standards, he noted. NRDC and allies want “the certainty of state or federal minimum energy efficiency standards, similar to those that exist for TVs and a wide range of consumer products set by DOE,” Horowitz said. The MVPD/CE plan “is purely a go-it-alone strategy” that needs standards for what deep-sleep boxes will be able to do, he said. “If a more robust voluntary agreement can be achieved, efficiency advocates like NRDC would seriously consider it.”

Industry again offered Thursday to resume talks with advocates, CEA Vice President Doug Johnson and NCTA General Counsel Neal Goldberg said. They're disappointed the negotiations didn’t come up with a voluntary deal, they said. “Our door remains open for discussion,” Goldberg said. DOE and EPA officials who heard about the expanded plans from industry executives “seem to be happy that we're moving in the right direction,” Goldberg said. MVPDs took a “first step” to eliminate the wasted $2 billion in power annually that’s used by dormant set-tops, so they only use the $1 billion of power when in use, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. It “will save consumers billions of dollars in reduced electricity bills,” said Feinstein (http://xrl.us/bn462y), who last year asked MVPDs to expand energy efficiency efforts. That resulted in CableLabs agreeing to work with the six largest members of NCTA and that association on a plan to start field testing of deep-sleep boxes in 2014.

MVPD subscribers would be able to find out how efficient their provider is, in the voluntary agreement that includes some auditing of compliance, the agreement said. “This information may be reported in broad averaged categories, such as for DVRs, Non-DVRs, and Thin Clients offered by a Service Provider Signatory.” It’s a “big structure” that “had never been in place in this country before,” Goldberg said. “We put a little more meat on the bones to deep sleep commitments.” It’s “an excellent model” for the rest of this continent, said Johnson. “The agreement contemplates ongoing dialogue with the policymakers and with the energy efficiency advocates.”

The cable operators in the expanded deal “anticipate deployment” of “successfully tested Next Generation Set-Top Boxes during 2016,” the voluntary agreement said of deep-sleep devices. CE and cable executives have said new chips that can partly shut down need to be developed to test such devices. The “functionality in next generation cable set-top boxes will be field tested and deployed if successful,” CEA and NCTA said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn463e). The deal, which starts Jan. 1, will mean at least 90 percent of all new set-top boxes bought by MVPDs and given to customers starting in 2013 will meet EnergyStar version 3.0 standards, the associations said. Telco-TV providers will offer light-sleep boxes next year, and DirecTV and Dish Network will include an “'automatic power down’ feature in 90 percent of set-top-boxes purchased and deployed,” CEA and NCTA said. Executives of the DBS companies confirmed that.

Meetings of the industry group, which can include regulators and energy-efficiency advocates, will next year discuss ways for cable modems to also use less power, Goldberg and cable lawyer Paul Glist of Davis Wright, representing NCTA, told us. They said the steering committee may also discuss EnergyStar version 4.0 standards for set-tops and other devices. The discussions are envisioned as “consulting with and collaborating with” the California Energy Commission that’s targeted such efficiency before, DOE, EPA and efficiency advocates, Glist said.

The goal of energy reduction is to power down equipment without making TV subscribers wait long while set-tops, servers and other equipment boot up, said CE executives and engineers at Dish and DirecTV. They said that means having one centralized device with multiple tuners, a satellite receiver and other equipment, which then passes programming onto “thin client” devices that use less energy and can shut down when not in use. Dish’s Hopper whole-home DVR and Joey thin-client devices and DirecTV’s Genie devices are examples, engineers for EchoStar, sister of the first company, and the second DBS company said.

The six participating cable operators are Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, said CEA and NCTA. Representatives of those companies had no comment. The deal “is just one example of CenturyLink’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint and ensuring the long-term health, preservation and intelligent use of our energy resources,” a spokeswoman said. It “shows a broad commitment” by AT&T to “both driving set-top box energy consumption to levels that are currently considered ’state-of-the-art’ and increasing energy efficiency information available to consumers,” a spokeswoman said. “The industry is now taking on the challenge of improving energy efficiency without compromising the customer experience.” Verizon, also participating, had no comment.

"A pretty high-performing central server product” with most of the equipment needed for a household to get broadband and TV, that sends content to smaller devices “saves a tremendous amount of energy per household,” said EchoStar engineer Gary Langille. EchoStar and Dish plan to implement power scaling, where devices can partly power down, he said. DirecTV may start such scaling in 2016, engineer Stephen Dulac said. “We are at the front end of this great client-server revolution” of one gateway and multiple servers per home, he said of gear that also allows networked IP devices using the RVU standard. “Hopefully we'll find televisions that have the RVU standard built into them, and then we'll connect to those televisions."

Motorola Mobility is “working very closely with our service provider customers and [is] committed to enabling them to meet their obligations” in the deal, said Jason Friedrich, head of U.S. government and regulatory affairs for the subsidiary of Google. Arris and Cisco also are participating.