FCC May Pry Open the Cable Set-Top Box

awyeah writes "The NY Times reports that the FCC is finally looking into the practice of cable companies requiring use of their set-top boxes to access their digital cable and video on-demand services. The inquiry (PDF) states: 'Consumers can access the Internet using a variety of delivery methods (e.g., wireless, DSL, fiber optics, broadband over powerlines, satellite, and cable) on myriad devices made by hundreds of manufacturers; yet we know of no device available at retail that can access all of an MVPD's services across that MVPD's entire footprint.' Yes, there are a few devices out there — for example CableCARD-enabled TVs, and CableCARD/Tuning Adapter-enabled TiVos and Windows Media Center PCs, but only the cable companies' set-tops can access services other than broadcast TV, such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view. Is it finally time to open these devices and embrace actual standards and competition?" Lauren Weinstein has a cautionary blog post about the world we may be entering if this FCC initiative comes to fruition, which concludes: "I have difficulty seeing how this universe can be made to function effectively in the absence of some sort of regulatory regime to ensure transparency and fairness in situations where the Internet access providers themselves are providing their own content that directly competes with content from the external Internet."

Comments

One idea

[Red Flayer]

"I have difficulty seeing how this universe can be made to function effectively in the absence of some sort of regulatory regime to ensure transparency and fairness in situations where the Internet access providers themselves are providing their own content that directly competes with content from the external Internet."

I see only one way that we, as consumers of content, will get a good outcome from this. And it's a messy one... We'd need to be able to have multiple content providers simultaneously. They'll competing on their service on shared content, and on the unique content they provide. It would end up being like TV before cable... you had the big networks in VHF, and a few fringe stations in UHF.

I really don't think this is a feasible solution due to infrastructure requirements (unless the infrastructure is common), but I think it's the only way the [Internet access|Content providers] can be involved in fair competition that benefits the end-consumer.

Say Microsoft enters into an agreement with Comcast, and Comcast starts delaying packets for google searches. Fine... not much harm done, since I could "change channels" and use another ISP.

Re:One idea

[sanosuke001]

split the content providers into two companies; one that owns the infrastructure and another that supplies the content. Then, require the infrastructure company to lease access to any company who wants it at the same price regardless of who is leasing the access.

Re:One idea

[gsarnold]

I agree that the FCC is not seeing the real problem here, but I have a better solution.

Video=Voice=Data. It's all bits. Barring (maybe) wireless we will not ever have actual competition in the current system because the market has a naturally high barrier to entry: the high cost and difficulty of pulling physical cables. (permits, zoning rules, capacity/buildout planning, "who really wants five cables from five different providers running into their house?!", etc...) That's why there is no mom and pop broadband market.

So, let's allow local government to seize ownership (eminent domain) and operation of the physical layer from the phone and cable companies, and lease access to anyone that wants to provide voice, video or data service. We stop running redundant cables, we stop letting service providers leverage their networks to strongarm their customers, and we stop letting them use their existing regional monopolies to lock out competition.

If we did roads the way we do data, you'd need to sign a five year contract and agree to have the roads around your house torn up and rebuilt to shop at Target instead of Walmart.

Re:cablecard is dead

[MBCook]

That's Cable's fault. Here is my cable card experience.

• Get Cable Cards. Despite being plug-and-play, this required an appointment with a Cable idiot.
• Pay extra per month for my CCs so I can use the service I already pay an ungodly amount of money for
• Have a problem with channel or two. Call up to have them fix it. It requires a reset signal be sent, which only happens once there is a tech at my place.
• Move out, get my own place. Need CCs transferred to new account. They can't do that. They come out to replace my two cards with two NEW cards, because they are idiots. Those cards don't work, so they give me my old cards back, just like I asked in the first place. This took TWO tech visits.
• Have cards fail, get the replaced. This requires a tech. Comcast won't let me swap them myself.
• For the time I don't have my service? They'll give me free VOD/PPV. But I can't use that, I have Cable Cards.

That's the short version.

By the way, my cards, which are basically PCMCIA cards, may need replacing again. You'd think they'd know how to build a solid-state device that doesn't move for two years without it dieing, but they don't.

Cables has gone out of their way to make things as difficult as possible. I'm guessing 90% of people don't even know the things are available. And with the deficits Cable has put in place (like no PPV/VOD), I'm not surprised people aren't rushing out to use them. And they don't work with Switched-Digital-Video, so any day now I may lose the option to use them.

It failed because the FCC didn't force things nearly hard enough. They let cable drag their feet WAY too long.

Re:Lauren Weinstein bait...

[rlds]

Verizon lets me use a M-Card on my Tivo HD. They had to install it when they came to remove my cable set to box, and configure it themselves. Then they charge me $2 less for the card per month as compared to the STB. Why can't I just buy the card? Why do they have to install it? (For now they are not charging for the truck rollout). The Tivo HD also gives me access to internet content, like from Netflix. That's my video on demand. So my virtual STB is working fine. I don't miss any of Verizon's extra services.

Re:cablecard is dead

[awyeah]

You'll notice that most of the people whining about CableCARD in this thread use Tivo. This should tell you something about where the problem really is: millions of people use CableCARD-enabled cable boxes with no problem.

People don't generally have problems with TiVo+CableCARD setups (once the cable company gets it set up). CableCARDs generally work fine. No, the problems are generally with the tuning adapters we're required to use. These are pieces of hardware provided by the cable company.

In fact, the TiVos do comply with the standards quite well. Unfortunately, TiVos are one-way receivers, and don't comply with the Switched Digital Video standards, because that's not part of the CableCARD standard.

The solution was to add the external tuning adapter, which the cable companies did a really bad job of supporting. The devices are buggy and the people on the side of the cable company had no idea how to handle them.

Yes, the cable company-issued STBs with cable cards do work pretty well, because they have built-in two-way communications. See below as to why I won't rent a cable company DVR.

By the way, around here, Time Warner charges TWO fees for the DVR: $7.95 "digital converter" fee, and $8.95 "DVR service" fee. That's $16.90/month for their DVR service. TiVo service is $12.95/month if you pay monthly, or $10.75/month if you pay yearly.

Yes, there is the initial investment - even the refurbished HD TiVos are nearly $200. It's up to the end-user to decide whether that's worth it. For me... it sure was. Here's why.

I would rent a cable company DVR if it didn't have the following problems (BTW, for techies out there, our DVRs are SA 8300HDC's running SARA):

* It should understand that it should only record one of the same episode. e.g.: HBO plays Entourage at 10:00PM on Sundays. Then they replay the same episode several times over the next week or so. The DVR should understand that it should only record that episode once. TiVo does, but the Time Warner DVRs in this area do not.
* It shouldn't corrupt recordings.
* It shouldn't delete all recordings every time there's a software update.
* I should be able to set up a series to record - not just a channel, start time, and end time.
* I should be able to set it to record only new episodes, not repeats.

Those are all requirements for me, and unfortunately, the cable company DVRs here simply do not do any of those things.

Other nice things about the TiVo, but aren't requirements:

* Setting DVR from the Internet.
* Setting DVR from my BlackBerry.
* YouTube on my TV.
* NetFlix on my TV.
* Amazon Video Store on my TV.
* Videos from my computer on my TV.
* RSS (Video and Audio podcasts) on my TV
* eSATA expandability - Time Warner has the eSATA port on their DVRs shut off.

Note: There may be DVRs from other cable systems that don't have all of these problems.