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Coming Set-top Box Mandate May Help Break Pay TV Firms' Hold Over Viewers (latimes.com)
Joe_Dragon sends a report from the LA Times about proposed regulations that could disrupt the cable industry's hold on consumers by targeting set-top boxes. These boxes are required to view most pay-TV programming these days, and consumers often require multiples if they have more than one TV. The rental fees add up to almost $20 billion in revenue for the industry each year. Yet the technology within these boxes is nothing special, and alternatives could easily arise if there was incentive to create them. "The changes aren't coming fast enough for some lawmakers and consumer advocates as well as tech companies such as Google Inc., which are eager to jump into the set-top box market. They want the Federal Communications Commission to require that pay TV providers make their services more easily compatible with third-party set-top boxes or similar devices. ... Such a mandate could allow consumers to access their pay TV and streaming services through one device instead of having to switch between two or more. And it could lead to innovations such as an ability to search for programming across services to determine, for example, whether a movie is available on Netflix or on-demand via a pay TV provider."
And it could lead to innovations such as an ability to search for programming across services to determine, for example, whether a movie is available on Netflix or on-demand via a pay TV provider."
A recent Tivo can do this. It can show you the various sources from which a movie or series is available.
Good, hope this will accelerate a CableCard-like standard for IPTV like it did for cable systems. I love my home-brew DVR, and I'm not willing to switch to Google Fiber or AT&T UVerse until third-party TV equipment can work with their service.
Cablecards were suppose to usher in the great revolution in consumer set top boxes, breaking free the need to rely on cable companies expensive STB rentals. Aside from Tivos, Ceton InfiniTV products, and Silicondust HDHomeRun Prime, there's really not much out there for a compelling consume device.
WMC was the only HTPC-related software that was certified to play encrypted non-copy-freely channels from a InfiniTV and HDHomeRun. And with many content providers/cable companies marking many/most/all channels copy-once, it really hurt the usefulness. Extenders for WMC were basically a non-starter, and with Microsoft killing WMC in Windows 10, it'll be all but dead in the near future.
Cable companies and content producers aren't going to let up on their demands for DRM/restricting content/etc. STB mandates aren't going to suddenly open up a market that was already extremely tepid. And even if the mandates were passed, cable companies will do everything in their power to find loopholes around them, actively discourage customers from using 3rd party devices, offering no support for them if not outright lying about being able to use them, or otherwise making it a PITA to try to use one.
The cable industry has far too much power, far too many lobbyists, oh, and did we mention they pretty much run the FCC these days?
There is simply no way in hell these companies will allow anything to happen which cuts into profits. They'll stop it dead in its tracks, or make anything so onerous and impossible that it won't actually work.
Since they mention this in the first paragraph ... this will be exactly like the old black rotary phone ... even if you no longer have it, they're going to gouge you for "touch tone dialing" and pretend like it costs them anything.
Which means they'll charge you whether or not you have their box, will charge you to connect your box to their stuff, will charge you for the privilege of connecting your box to their stuff and for maintaining the infrastructure, and will find all sorts of ways to keep gouging consumers.
These companies have strangleholds, and monopolies ... they sure as hell aren't going to accept any regulations which cost them money. They're far too entrenched and feel they're entitled to that money.
And they have far too many fucking politicians on the payroll whose job it is to entrench in law their revenues.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I'm not so sure the DRM has to go, but I think there needs to be multiple solutions that satisfy the DRM requirements.
Wondering out loud.... Could we not require cable companies to either turn off the "copy once" flag or have a viable freely available DVR solution that is certified to do the necessary DRM... Like having a closed source addition to the commonly available media solutions?
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
No, Windows Media Center is the only one with the certifications necessary right now.
I hear that Silicon Dust is working on a solution that will have the full DRM certifications but so far I don't know how far away they are. I'm guessing they are trying pretty hard, because if they don't succeed with this, their main consumer business line will effectively be dead, so they are fighting for their lives.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
RE Netflix, This just isn't true. We need more real time services. I'm a cable cutter, 5 years to date. I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Plex for downloaded shows. But you know what I still can't get? Things my wife likes. News when it happens on CNN. Ad hoc cooking shows on Food Network. Sunday Night Football on ESPN (live). Moreover, I am delayed on TV shows to the point that I must abstain from the water cooler. For example, I have to not talk to my friends for a year because I won't get the last season of Breaking Bad until a year after it airs (this has passed now, was just an example). Netflix, Prime, Hulu, and Plex go a long way for very cheap. But there is still a void, a void the cable companies still have me by the balls with because I still consider being their customer.
We have one cable drop with a PVR in our family room, and our service is for the most basic cable package you can get. It's connected to a Samsung TV with some streaming capability (Netflix and a couple other services). This month I'm putting a second TV in our basement rec room and hooking up an Apple TV to deliver content. In six month's time I will ask everyone in the family (four of us) to give me a good reason why we need to keep the cable service. I'm predicting I'll be cutting the coax next summer.
"Could be worse...could be raining." Igor
There's an old saying, "What this country needs is a good war."
Without any real problems (the West's worst medical problem now is too much food) lesser issues float up and take over their role as rage inflection points.
And of course they are nothing of the sort.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
The only thing that keeps them alive is lack of broadband to some viewers.
That and the long-term exclusive contracts among sport leagues, pay television networks, and multichannel pay television system operators.