[opendtv] Comcast, TiVo Working On Non-CableCARD Approach | Multichannel

From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 09:54:32 -0400
http://www.multichannel.com/news/tv-apps/comcast-tivo-working-non-cablecard-approach/375989

Comcast, TiVo Working On Non-CableCARD Approach

TiVo and Comcast have agreed to collaborate on a two-way, non-CableCARD 
security platform that would enable TiVo boxes bought at retail to access 
Comcast’s full lineup of linear programming as well as the MSO’s 
video-on-demand service.

Following the recent completion of an integration, Comcast currently supports 
both live TV and VOD services on retail-purchased TiVo Premiere and Roamio 
devices in all of the MSO’s markets, so long as those devices are paired with 
CableCARD modules. 

TiVo and Comcast, which disclosed the agreement in an FCC filing dated July 14, 
didn’t go into explicit technical detail on how the non-CableCARD approach 
would work, though it's possibile that the intended approach would use a 
downloadable version of video security. But they did note that Comcast will 
make the solution available to other cable operators “on commercially 
reasonable terms.”

Under the agreement, Comcast customers that wish to use TiVo retail devices to 
access Comcast’s full suite of cable-delivered services will continue to have 
that option at a future date using a non-CableCARD solution that will be 
supported in both TiVo retail and Comcast-supplied devices, they added, noting 
that the CableCARD-free approach “can also be supported in other compatible 
customer-owned devices.”

“This agreement demonstrates that the marketplace is working to provide 
innovative  device solutions for consumers to access MVPD services and thereby 
advance the Commission’s navigation device goals,” Comcast and TiVo said in the 
filing. “Comcast is already delivering IP cable services to smartphones, 
tablets, and other customer-owned devices in the home in certain Comcast 
markets.”

In the same document, Comcast said it had likewise committed to continue 
providing and supporting CableCARDs in retail device notwithstanding the D.C. 
Circuit’s EchoStar decision last year that vacated certain CableCARD rules. 
That decision was not central to CableCARDs, but, according to TiVo, it did 
raise questions about cable’s obligations to support consumer access to the 
removable security modules.  

“Comcast will ensure that all CableCARD-enabled devices will continue to have 
access to all linear channels in all Comcast markets,” they added.

Save for FCC-supplied waivers for devices such as one-way digital transport 
adapters (DTAs), U.S. operators are subject to an FCC ban on set-tops with 
integrated security that took effect in July 2007 and was aimed at cultivating 
a retail market for cable-ready set-tops, TVs and other video devices. That ban 
has failed to achieve the intended goal. According to a recent report from the 
National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the nation’s top nine 
incumbent cable operators have deployed more than 47 million MSO-supplied 
set-tops with CableCARDs since the ban took effect, versus only 616,000 
CableCARDs for use in retail devices.

This new agreement between Comcast and TiVo comes amid repeated calls by the 
NCTA for the FCC to end the set-top ban. Last fall, Reps. Robert Latta (R-Ohio) 
and Gene Green (D-TX) introduced  legislation  that aims to “remove the 
unnecessary and costly” set-top security integration ban, putting forth an FCC 
estimate that the mandate has cost cable operators and consumers more than $1 
billion.

That follows a court decision in which EchoStar won its challenge to FCC rules 
on the ability to record TV programming. The issue was not CableCARDS, but it 
raised questions about cable obligations to support consumer access to the 
cards, according to Tivo, which it wants the FCC to clear up since those 
CableCARDS also allow access to TiVo recording devices.

Additionally, a draft provision in the Satellite Television Extension and 
Localism Act (STELA) seeks to eliminate the FCC’s integration ban, though the 
current draft would retain the FCC’s power to reinstate the ban on any 
successor to the CableCARD regime.

Meanwhile, the AllVid Technology Alliance has urged the FCC to pursue new rules 
that bring put forth a CableCARD successor that could be applied to all MVPDs, 
and not just cable operators. The cable industry has argued that market forces, 
not another government mandate, should determine the post-CableCARD future.
[opendtv] Comcast, TiVo Working On Non-CableCARD Approach | Multichannel

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