MVPDs Oppose DOE ‘NOPR’ on Set-top Energy Efficiency Tests

NCTA thinks that approach was the right one, said cable lawyer Paul Glist of Davis Wright, representing the association. Such headless gateways “may well be the next type of box deployed in the next few years” by MVPDs, and should be included in the test rules, said Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We still think there’s a way to do it without unintended consequences of pulling in smartphones” and other devices that can get video but that don’t belong under the rules, he said. Pace’s Robert Turner noted that headless devices are “becoming prevalent in industry.” By not including them, “we'll end up with a document that is a dinosaur,” said Turner, the CE company’s consultant approvals engineer. “We do need to include newer technologies."

Gaming consoles also would be excluded in the rules, which would cover devices with a “primary purpose” of “receiving video signals,” said Jeremy Dommu, DOE project manager in charge of the set-top rulemaking. “We certainly understand that some of these devices are trending more toward” getting video, “and we certainly will be welcoming comment on that,” he continued. Network equipment also would be excluded from the test methods “because of differences in functionality and use from set-top boxes,” Dommu said. Network gear would “take a completely different set of procedures, since they are used in different ways … but I want to stress that DOE will” consider test procedures for such equipment separately, he said.

The NOPR’s proposed definition of set-tops as “providing video output using at least one direct video connection” could be read expansively or narrowly, said CE consultant Adam Goldberg, representing TiVo. “It either says nothing, or it includes everything” such as DirecTV’s RVU system of video interface over Internet Protocol and Dish Network’s corresponding system, he said. Widely used industry technology like HDMI for video connections came about by increasing use at some companies and spreading to others, he noted. “Perhaps some additional thought needs to be given to the catch-all at the end of the definition” of video interfaces, he said.

In addition to HDMI, component video, S-video and composite video, a direct video connection in the NOPR also includes “any other video interface that may be used to output video content.” At “some point, someone is going to have to make a judgment about whether a PlayStation is primarily a video” device “or not,” said Goldberg. Engineer Gary Langille of Dish sister company EchoStar noted that what he called a “whole-household system” connects to the TVs by an ethernet or Internet connection.

Langille and some other MVPD and CE executives oppose the rulemaking. They said December’s voluntary agreement (VA) by 15 cable, satellite, telco and CE companies to reduce energy use (CD Dec 7 p5) obviates the need for rules to test set-tops or to regulate their energy use. The draft CEA-2043 set-top standard, on which the NOPR is partly based, is itself “attempting to incorporate any issues raised” in the rulemaking, Langille said. That test procedure is nearly developed, said Chuck Samuels, representing CEA. An errata or revision can be issued to include future technological developments, said Langille. The CEA standard “should be referenced as-is, without further modification” if DOE does issue rules, he said. He asked the department to “re-examine the justification for regulation and issuance of a test procedure.” After comments, which are due April 8 in docket EERE-2012-BT-TP-0046, the agency could issue a supplemental proposal if the department makes “significant enough” changes, or publish a final rule, Dommu said.

Langille and other executives discussed the CE and MVPD industries’ energy-reduction efforts. They again voiced disappointment that negotiations ended in the fall (CD Nov 2 p8) between those entities and energy-savings advocates over voluntary measures that would have supplanted the NOPR. CEA still hopes to work with such nonprofits on the VA’s execution, said Samuels. The VA is “solely written by industry and only signed by industry members -- it’s non-binding,” said Horowitz, part of those advocate-trade association talks. “The reason advocates, I can speak for our organization, haven’t signed [the deal] is due to lack of specificity.” NRDC wants DOE to adopt rules, using CEA-2043 and making any changes if needed, Horowitz said.

Since the VA has “uniform test procedures,” it’s “curious” to Glist that the deal isn’t mentioned “at all in the NOPR,” he said. The agency should “give the voluntary agreement a chance to work,” he said. Glist and a DOE official later in the meeting engaged in a brief debate of sorts over why the agency was undertaking the rulemaking. “What this proceeding is trying to do is to set up a test method,” replied the DOE official, Ashley Armstrong. “We're trying to understand what exact language is precluding the innovation,” she said of the NOPR.

Some executives pointed to the test-method questions tackled at the day-long meeting at DOE’s headquarters as demonstrating the problems of regulating set-top energy use. “This is one of many illustrations about why DOE testing methods, which edge into standards making, is not the right approach for this complicated industry,” Glist said. CEA sees “no justification for federal standards, and set-top boxes should not be designated as a covered product” by DOE, Samuels said. “Test procedures have historically been stagnant for many years, and have not kept up with technological developments,” while standards can be revised quickly, he said. Samuels noted that “it will be illegal to make energy claims outside the scope of the test procedure,” without a waiver.