Comcast has begun notifying customers via their billing statements that starting October 24, it will no longer be issuing CableCARD security modules. 

Comcast told LightReading that it will provide affected customers with a free year's usage of a streaming device and guide them to use the Xfinity app. It will also continue to support existing CableCards after October 24.

Also read: Charter to Cut Off CableCARD Support

The move comes a little more than two years after ended support for the device, and four years following the end of the FCC's requirement of its usage. 

Creation of the CableCARD was mandated as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and designed to force cable operators to provide their customers a choice of using third-party set-tops. 

The module was developed to allow third-party devices sold at retail to be used in the cable TV ecosystem. However, only a handful of gadgets in the market today still support CableCARD. 

Abandoned by its benefactor, the Federal Communications Commission, two years ago, and still in use in only a small fraction of U.S. homes, the CableCARD appears to be facing outright extinction. 

Charter Communications sent notices to its CableCARD-carrying customers in June, notifying them that support for the devices will be interrupted pending a network upgrade. 

In its email to customers, Charter said a network upgrade occurring in select markets will “deliver more capacity and faster speeds.” However, the PC cards that let subscribers watch their Spectrum TV-branded cable TV service on third-party set-tops manufactured by companies including TiVo and SiliconDust are incompatible with the upgrade and will no longer work. 

Charter encouraged these customers to consider using the Spectrum TV app for Apple TV, offering them 50% off Apple's pricey but premium connected TV device. The MSO also offered to lease affected customers a Charter set-top with cloud DVR for free for two years. (Pretty good lookin' out for its customers, if you ask us.)

Notably, the email represents somewhat of a vague threat — Charter didn't provide any timelines for when CableCARD access in unspecified select markets would be interrupted, saying only that the stoppage is “months away.” And the cable company said nothing about the support stoppage being permanent. 

SiliconDust CTO Nick Kelsey told TechHive that Charter is performing “high splits” of network nodes in some markets in order to increase upstream capacity, and that the frequency modulation of CableCARDs stand in the way of those adjustments. 

But it is possible to still make CableCARDs work on a network with high-split upgrades, Kelsey noted. And a Charter rep told the tech pub that the cable operator is indeed working on a solution to enable CableCARD use at some point down the road. 

Both SiliconDust and TiVo parent Xperi say they'll keep manufacturing CableCARD-compatible boxes. 

Less than 1% of Charter's remaining 15.7 million pay TV customers still use CableCARDS, the cable company said. With Charter customers now able to access their cable subscriptions via the Spectrum TV app on a broad array of third-party connected TV and mobile devices, it's questionable as to how many CableCARD customers would return to their legacy set-tops following any lengthy service interruption. 

Creation of the CableCARD was mandated as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and designed to force cable operators to provide their customers a choice of using third-party set-tops. 

Deployment of CableCARDS peaked at around 55 million boxes in 2016. In 2020, however, the FCC abandoned its effort to regulate "video navigation devices" through CableCARDs. ▪️

In the category of “forgotten but not gone,” the Federal Communications Commission Friday ended its decades-long attempt to regulate video navigation devices as part of the set-top box landscape. Its ruling also eliminated CableCARD support and reporting requirements by cable operators, recognizing that cable industry deployment and use of CableCARDs have been “disappointing.”

The unanimous decision – which included concurring support from Democratic Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks – acknowledged that “the record in this proceeding has been fallow for four years and does not reflect important changes in the video programming marketplace and delivery of those services via applications that run on subscriber-owned devices.”

The ruling represents yet another FCC effort to remove from the books old regulations that are unused or unenforced. This one dates back to the late 1990s. The action specifically deals with the 2016 updated Notice of Proposed Rulemaking “Expanding Consumers’ Video Navigation Choices.”

In eliminating the CableCARD consumer support requirements, the FCC said that the rules “no longer serve a useful purpose following the D.C. Circuit Court’s 2013 decision in the “Echostar” case, which overturned a 2003 FCC order mandating that CableCARDs must be used by all multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to assure security requirement for navigation devices. The decision cited arguments by programmers, MVPDs and the U.S. Copyright Office that the proposed rules would “undermine anti-piracy protections, reducing the incentives of parties to invest in new content, and would force MVPDs, programmers, and copyright holders to violate the copyright licensing contract obligations … leading to costly and time-consuming litigation.”

“Retention of the CableCARD support rules is not necessary to ensure that consumers have retail alternatives to leased set-top boxes,” the Commission said. “Consumer demand for retail CableCARD devices never developed as anticipated and such demand has declined steadily in recent years due to the growing popularity of MVPD applications.”  The agency reminded cable operators that although CableCARD support rules are unnecessary, operators “are still required to provide separable security.”

An ACA Connects spokesman said the cable association “applauds the decision.”

“The marketplace has changed significantly over the last four years and even more so since the FCC first adopted set top box rules,” he said. “Consumers today are benefiting from the FCC’s decision not to adopt any new rules in this complex area.  Less regulation here has proven to be what was needed most to clear the way for consumer choice.”

Recognizing Changes

For its part, the FCC acknowledged that “further Commission intervention in the navigation device marketplace is not necessary at this time.” It said that instituting any such regulations “could be substantial and detrimental to consumers, copyright holders, and MVPDs, and thus we are reluctant to adopt these additional regulations.” The agency noted that it had “substantial doubts” about whether the aging navigation devices are meaningful in the current multichannel video programming arena.

“Moreover, we note that since the record closed, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the NPRM did not sufficiently analyze ‘the extent to which Internet-based providers affect consumer choice for video programming and what that change means for the importance of consumer choice for devices,’” the FCC added.

At the time it issued the rulemaking proposal in 2016, the FCC said it wanted “to let MVPD subscribers watch what they pay for wherever they want, however they want, and whenever they want, and pay less money to do so, making it as easy to buy an innovative means of accessing multichannel video programming (such as an app, smart TV, or set-top box) as it is to buy a cell phone or TV.”

In the intervening years, the market has changed. The FCC cited NCTA data showing that the nine largest MVPDs now support apps that are used to watch content on consumer-owned devices, such as smart TVs; tablets; streaming sticks and devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Google Chromecast, and Amazon Fire; smartphones; game consoles; and personal computers.

“Therefore, without Commission intervention, many MVPD subscribers can watch the services that they pay for wherever, however, and whenever they want on an array of innovative devices via many different applications,” the FCC said.  “We are concerned that adopting the proposals set forth in the NPRM would risk stifling innovation and deterring investment in this sector and, thus, could ultimately detract from Congress’s overarching goal for a fully competitive market for navigation devices.”

Even as some things change as cable operators pivot to IP video, others seem to stay the same.

A prime example is the this week’s beta launch of the Xfinity TV app for Roku devices ahead of a commercial debut that will happen sometime later this year.  Save for some minor limitations like access to transactional content (rental and purchased TV shows and movies), the app provides many of the core features that consumers can get from a Comcast-supplied box for its X1 service.

RELATED: Roku, Comcast Kick Off Xfinity TV App Beta Trial

And while the beta launch represents a step forward for a retail model that will let consumers buy set-top boxes and sidestep leasing fees, it’s still not a giant leap forward for consumers who were hoping that they can avoid all of the fees that typically attached to set-tops that are leased from the operator.

Alongside the good things being said about the trial, a source of much teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing this week was Comcast’s decision to charge outlet fees to customers who decide to use Roku devices as their primary outlet or as an additional outlet once the trial period ends.

Comcast is waiving those fees during the trial, but confirmed that customers will have the option to use the app on Roku devices as a “primary outlet,” and receive a $2.50 credit on their bill (the primary outlet fee is included in the bill), similar to how the operator treats retail devices like TiVo boxes that are outfitted with CableCARDs. Additionally, customers who use a Roku as their secondary outlet will incur an additional outlet charge of $9.95 per month, but also receive a $2.50 credit, reducing that to $7.45. Customers will be able to opt-in for this after the trial, so that will do well to eliminate unwelcome surprises for customers who might not be paying attention to it now.

Comcast reasons that this policy reflects an extension of its current business practices. And while I understand that it makes business sense for Comcast to try to protect that revenue as it considers a possible future in which more consumers will use retail video devices to get their pay TV service from the operator, I have to ask: Is this as consumer-friendly as it could be, or should be?

Here’s my answer: Of course it's not.

Applying outlet policies currently used for retail devices that rely on CableCARDS to the newer apps-based approach for Roku devices can’t be done on an apples-to-apples basis.  On a cost basis, the justifications of reapplying the old CableCARD retail fee model to this new, seemingly more elegant one just don’t seem to add up.

Update: As another important point, Comcast does not charge an outlet fee if a customer accesses the Xfinity TV app in the home via a mobile device, like an iPad or iPhone, or on a Web browser. 

Let’s start with the CableCARD itself, a clunky security module that had one foot in the grave (and the other one teetering upon the edge of it) from a technological standpoint even before the July 2007 mandate took effect that required operators to deploy them in leased boxes while also supporting modules used in retail TiVo boxes and the rare HDTV that had CableCARD slots in them. Because “common reliance.”

There are significant and tangible capital and operational costs associated with the CableCARD, which is why some MSOs lease them. Those modules (and the slots that contain them) cost extra, and slurp up more power than set-tops that use integrated or software-based security/conditional access systems. And that’s just for retail devices. The cable industry, as part of its desire to kill the ban on set-tops with integrated security, has long-complained about high, unnecessary costs that the CableCARD requirement has foisted upon MSO-leased boxes.

And CableCARDs used in retail devices sometimes require truck rolls, and those costs aren’t trivial.

Almost on cue, the NCTA-The Internet & Television Association just issued a report to the FCC that provides an update on the industry’s CableCARD activities during Q4 2016.

Some stats:

-Cablevision Systems (now Altice USA) required pro installs for 28% of its CableCARD deployments, at an average cost of $39.95 per install, and logged 2,450 problems related to CableCARDs in the period.

-Charter Communications said it averaged 1.0 truck rolls to install a CableCARD in that same period, and the average cost for a pro install was almost $50.

-In Q4, Comcast deployed 4,121 new CableCARD installs, of which 1,857 required truck rolls, or 45%, and needed an average number of 1.03 truck rolls to install a CableCARD. The average cost to install a CableCARD was $34.65. In a point in its favor, Comcast does not charge a monthly lease rate for an initial CableCARD.

-Cox Communications required 1.09 truck rolls to install a CableCARD, and has a standard cost for a pro install of $50. Amazingly, Cox reported no CableCARD problems during the period, maybe because it added a role of “Regional CableCARD Liaison” to the process in late 2012 that is tasked with resolving all CableCARD-related issues (from local and corporate engineering, customer service, and the supply chain).

It’s too early to know what the tangible costs will be for the Xfinity TV app offered on Roku devices, the one to come for Samsung smart TVs, and possibly other retail devices further down the road, but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that those costs will be lower than those tied to devices that are weighed down by CableCARDs.

The shift to a retail model that centers on apps and pivots away from the CableCARD will certainly result in fewer truck rolls – that’s been one of the big selling points, right? Granted, Comcast customers will still need to connect their Rokus to a Comcast IP gateway or a “cable service gateway” to make it work, so it’s likely that not all of those people will take the self-installation route. Comcast techs will probably need to pay some of them a visit.

Of course, all of this ranting and raving about outlet fees for retail devices could be for naught as Comcast confirmed that it is evaluating its policies.

But I assert that the right thing to do is to further reduce the primary outlet fee and also reduce or even eliminate the additional outlet fee when customers use Rokus and other devices bought at retail to access their pay TV subscription from Comcast. The same should go for other cable operators.

That would not only be in the spirit of supporting the retail model, and one that the cable industry has insisted should be allowed ride the momentum of the marketplace and not on the wave of another government mandate, it would also provide some added justification for the decision this week by new FCC chairman Ajit Pai to pull a new set-top rules proposal that the cable industry so much wants to avoid.

I understand that protecting a revenue stream is important to any business, but applying these fees, even at a small discount, when the Roku trial ends simply looks bad against that backdrop. Plus, it’s a missed opportunity to do what’s right, if there is true interest in allowing for more consumer choice and supporting and cultivating a market for retail devices that can access a full-freight of MVPD services. 

The FCC’s ban on integrated security set-tops ended last December,  and the impact of it continues to be seen in the latest batch of CableCARD deployment figures to emerge from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.

In an April 27 filing with the Federal Communications Commission, NCTA said the nine largest U.S. incumbent cable operators have deployed 55 million operator-supplied set-tops with CableCARD modules – about the same number it reported in its last disclosure in February 2016.

Meanwhile, the number of CableCARD modules deployed in retail products such as TiVo boxes reached 621,400, up from 589,000 in the February report.

The NCTA has been issuing these reports since the original ban took effect in July 2007.

The FCC, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with new set-top box rules that it intends to apply to all MVPDs, not just cable operators. The cable industry has argued that new mandates are not needed, given momentum of the market toward an apps-based economy.

However, last week FCC chairman Tom Wheeler was undaunted in the pursuit of new rules, holding that his proposal "has gotta be done. And that's the road we are headed down."

Wheeler also was not moved by Comcast's launch of the Xfinity TV Partner Program, which, early on, will see an app for the MSO's full suite of pay TV services reach Samsung smart TVs and the Roku streaming platform. "What Comcast giveth, Comcast can taketh away," he said. 

Last week, Comcast Cable president and CEO Neil Smit said more than 40 companies have inquired about the program since it was launched, and labeled the FCC's initial, critical response to the program "uncalled for." 

The White House’s public backing of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plan to create new rules aimed to open up the retail market for set-top boxes adds to the “overhang” faced by Arris and other cable equipment stocks, but won’t necessarily make a material impact on them, an industry analyst believes.

President Obama’s support of the plan didn’t wreak havoc on shares in Arris, now the world’s largest set-top box maker following its 2014 acquisition of Motorola Home and the recently completed merger with U.K.-based set-top maker Pace plc.  Shares in Arris closed at $22.19 on Friday, down 31 cents (1.38%) for the day.

Despite the additional overhang caused by the announcement, “we also continue to see the news as more of a headline risk, rather than a material financial headwind,” Simon Leopold, analyst with Raymond James, said in a research note on Friday. “Set-top-boxes make for an easy political target, since it is not uncommon for consumers to grumble about rental fees, however we believe that consumers would not necessarily embrace the alternative of shelling out hundreds of dollars every few years for the latest STB either.”

Leopold also said implementation of any new set-top rules would be challenging as “producing universal set-top-devices that conform to all of the technologies could prove tedious and add complexity to consumers in terms of configuration and compatibility with their service provider's network.”

He’s also skeptical of the FCC’s ability to mandate such changes and expects to see the issue go to court, and pointed to historic shortcomings with the CableCARD regime (about 55 million of the modules have been deployed in MSO-supplied boxes by the top nine incumbent U .S. MSOs, versus 589,000 in retail devices, per the NCTA's latest report), and that about 14.5% of Time Warner Cable’s customers opt to buy their own cable modems.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield also weighed in on Obama’s backing of Wheeler’s set-top plan, calling it a win for consumers, a positive for OTT providers, and a negative for programmers (in part because more integration of OTT will present more risk to linear TV ratings) and MVPDs.

“MVPDs make money on leasing boxes and selling video packages. While the near-term impact will be less revenue from leasing boxes (offset by not having to finance building boxes to lease), the longer-term risk is the acceleration in cord-shaving/cutting/nevering reducing profits on its video service,” Greenfield wrote in a blog post (registration required).

On the other end of it, a shift to IP-based devices from third parties could also produce costs savings for MVPDs with respect to truck-rolls and customer service rep time, he added. 

A proposed set of new set-top rules might not necessarily set the stage for a new (and much more vibrant) retail era for video devices that can support pay TV services from cable operators, telcos and satellite providers alike.

Though there’s still much work to be done, it’s crystal clear that Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler and backers of the rules, such as Google, firmly believe that new regulations will open the retail floodgates.

On the other end, the cable industry, led by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, claims that the market for retail video devices is doing just fi ne on its own, free of mandates and driven by an apps-based economy.

As for the retail device makers, Google, which is still trying to establish Android TV’s market presence, has been successful with the Chromecast streaming adapter. The $35 device accounted for 35% of the 42 million streaming devices shipped last year, followed by Apple TV, Roku devices and Amazon’s Fire TV products, according to Strategy Analytics.

Of that group, Roku is in trials with Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications on IP-based pay TV offerings that rely on retail streaming devices.

Comcast, meanwhile, has pushed its own leased products harder than ever — with about 40,000 X1 boxes being deployed per day at last count — as the MSO continues to accelerate the rollout of its next-generation video product, aiming to deploy it to about half of its video base by year-end.

But the new rules, if they come to pass, aren’t exactly trying to leap over the highest of bars.

By the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s last count, the nation’s nine largest incumbent cable operators had deployed 55 million operator-supplied set-tops with CableCards, versus just 589,000 of the security modules in TiVo boxes and other devices sold at retail.

Industry observers and a CE company that’s been close to the retail set-top mix since the early CableCard days say it’s too early to know if the FCC’s new proposed rules will have a meaningful impact, given that they could change during the comment process and will require new standards. Plus, the FCC anticipates a two-year compliance window.

“This is going to take a long time to hash through — not only to set the technical standards, but to see if anything actually happens [amid] coming changes at the administration, and possible changes of the chairman and other members of the FCC,” Mike Paxton, senior analyst at SNL Kagan, said.

Assuming the rules are executed, Paxton doesn’t believe that they’ll have as big of an impact as Wheeler and others who desire a successor to the CableCard expect.

“Our feeling is this is only going to have a modest impact at most on how consumers access … and consume video,” Paxton said. “This is by no means a slam dunk … that millions of consumers in the U.S. are going to go out and do this.”

TiVo has championed the retail distribution model, but it’s had limited success in that area since the original CableCard rules took effect almost a decade ago. Of TiVo’s 6.8 million subs, 5.47 million come way of cable-operator partnerships.

“I think it’s too early to make a guess right now” with respect to the impact of the FCC’s rules, Matthew Zinn, TiVo’s senior vice president, general counsel and chief privacy officer, said. “I think things will change during the comment process.”

TiVo has plenty of questions about the rules, but it also has a goal in mind: “We are looking for something that is workable.”

By that, Zinn means a successor to the CableCard that uses standards, but doesn’t require TiVo and others to adhere to an excessive number of technical approaches.

A major challenge is for the FCC to balance MVPDs’ desire for flexibility while assembling standards with which to build a vibrant retail ecosystem that enables device portability across different pay TV operators, he said.

The FCC’s rules will aim directly at incumbent suppliers with plenty of turf to protect. The global set-top business is fragmented, with Technicolor, Arris, Huawei, Skyworth and Pace comprising 40% of the market, at the end of 2014, according to SNL Kagan (it hasn’t released 2015 market share data yet). Arris, which acquired U.K.-based Pace in January, is now the largest set-top box maker in the world and has a dominant position in the U.S., so it has the most to lose.

But it isn’t losing a lot of sleep — yet. “We’re not terribly concerned about this FCC drama,” Bob Stanzione, Arris’s chairman and CEO, said March 16 at the company’s investor day.

Should the rules establish a stronger retail market for set-tops, “it’s one we’re very well-positioned to support,” Larry Robinson, president of customer premises equipment at Arris, said, in a reference to Arris’s current retail efforts around cable modems and its previous (but brie_) experience selling set-tops at retail after buying Paul Allen’s Digeo in 2009. Paxton also said he doesn’t think Arris and other incumbents have a lot to worry about, viewing the proposed rules as “moderately negative” on their set-top box business. They could pose the potential for losing some business on the lower end of the set-top box market, Paxton said — the sub-$100 area where retail video products will generate the most success. Devices on the higher end of that range — DirecTV’s Genie and Dish Network’s Hopper 3, for example — will continue to be leased.

“I don’t think [the rules] will have a huge impact on Arris and Technicolor, but it certainly won’t have a positive impact,” Paxton said.

For those still keeping score, the nine largest U.S. incumbent cable operators have deployed 55 million operator-supplied set-tops with CableCARD modules, compared to just 589,000 CableCARDs for deployment in retail products such as TiVo boxes, according to a National Cable & Telecommunications Association report filed with the FCC late last week.

For operator-supplied set-tops with CableCARDs, it’s a small increase from the 54 million reported by the NCTA in November 2015, and, for retail devices with CableCARD slots, a decrease from 618,000.

The NCTA has been issuing these reports since the FCC’s ban on integrated security set-tops took effect in July 2007. That ban ended on Dec. 4, 2015, per a Congressional mandate tied to the passing of the STELAR Act, which became law on Dec. 4, 2014.

The cable industry has long held that the integration ban was costly and unnecessary, but is now faced with the possibility of new set-top rules that would apply not just to cable operators, but to telco TV and satellite TV providers as well.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed those new rules last week, claiming they will drive “choice and competition” in the set-top market. The FCC is expected to vote on the proposal at its February 18 public meeting. The proposal will need to garner three votes to pass.

Please go here for a roundup of stories about the proposal and the reactions to it.

“We believe the future of TV is apps,” Apple CEO Tim Cook declared in September as he unveiled the latest, greatest Apple TV streaming device. It was largely viewed as a prescient utterance.

Based on the current state of the TV world, though, Cook might has well have been talking about the present. Programmers and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) are continuing to launch streaming apps at a rapid clip for smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, smart TVs and streaming players.

It’s abundantly clear that the bulk of the pay TV ecosystem has taken on an apps-friendly approach, crafting strategies to help fight back against the small-but-growing cord-cutting trend while establishing a presence on increasingly popular connected consumer devices.

These programmers and MVPDs have realized they need to be where consumers are. In many cases, that’s no longer the old set-top box.

The shift toward an apps-centric paradigm also has huge regulatory ramifications. Cook’s comments and the ongoing deployment ramp fit snugly with the cable industry’s position as the Federal Communications Commission considers new video-security rules that would succeed the CableCard, a device that failed to create a vibrant market for cable-ready retail set-tops and TVs.

The FCC has yet to act on any new rules in this area, but it’s mulling its next move following a report from an agency-appointed group, the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee. DSTAC arrived at divided recommendations — an apps-based approach that is generally endorsed by the cable industry, and an “AllVid”-style approach that favors the implementation of a “virtual headend” and a government-specified gateway device.

The cable industry believes the market is being driven by apps, and has been backing that up with stats and numbers. For instance, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association recently estimated that 66% of the 460 million Internet-protocol devices in the market now can stream each of the top 10 pay TV provider apps. In a blog item posted in September, CableLabs chief technology officer Ralph Brown noted that 96% of those retail IP devices can be served by apps from one or more MVPD app, and 67% of them can be served by an app from all of the top 10 U.S. pay TV providers.

When it comes to video apps, 2015 will be remembered “as a watershed moment for the industry,” HBO executive vice president of global distribution operations Bernadette Aulestia said.

Although the cable industry agrees on the apps-based approach, the way those strategies have been put into play has been far from uniform.

While Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications and other providers have developed apps for Roku players, Comcast has instead focused its apps on mobile devices. For their part, programmers have centered on iOS and Android tablets and smartphones, but vary in their support of TV-connected platforms. (For a representative rundown of programmer apps, see chart starting.)

But they all agree that use of their respective apps is on the upswing. “We are definitely seeing an increase in the usage” of the TWC TV app, now offered on eight platforms, Mike Angus, senior vice president and general manager of digital programming and content for Time Warner Cable, said.

That trend is gradually moving “mainstream,” as TWC and others remove some steps in the authentication process that used to be required for customers to obtain their credentials, Angus said.

And apps on TV-connected devices have given MSOs a path to distribution on retail platforms that can replicate most of the functions in a set-top box.

TWC is taking that idea to task in New York, where it is trialing a set of IPTV service tiers centered on the Roku platform. The trial, targeted to cord-cutters and video customers looking to avoid monthly set-top box fees, uses the TWC TV app to deliver live programming and VOD to Roku devices.

“You’ve got to be able to provide each of those customers with what they want or you’re potentially missing out on an important and new [customer] segment,” Angus said.

“It’s not one size fits all anymore.”

Comcast has been adding more utility (and unity) to its apps, which are used by customers in and out of the home. The Xfinity TV app for Comcast’s X1 platform, for instance, recently tacked on support for the MSO’s TV Everywhere VOD library.

That has incented customers to download the app as a primary video source, Comcast Cable senior director of TV Everywhere content and product strategy Vito Forlenza said. About one-third of Comcast’s customers are now using some form of TV Everywhere, via the MSO’s Web or mobile apps, or through an app operated by a programming partner, he noted.

“The most interesting thing is that users are growing, but hours per viewer are also growing,” he said, attributing that in part to an increase in the “stacking” of current TV seasons.

About 25% of programming hours viewed via TVE are live, Forlenza said, driven primarily by news and sports.

Comcast is also working to fill a gap in its TVE lineup by adding broadcast-TV stations to the mix.

“We think that will really have a big effect on increasing our reach and engagement and providing more value to our customers,” Forlenza said. Comcast is working with broadcasters to define the rules on access, he added.

Forlenza attributes some of TVE’s upward swing to the collaboration on guidelines, including iconography and language, developed in partnership with organizations such as the Cable & Telecommunications Asssociation for Marketing and the Open Authentication Technology Committee.

Programmers, and premium networks in particular, are also seeing increased traction with their respective apps.

Showtime said it has seen significant growth in TVE since launching its effort four years ago. Among the stats: Registered users rose 69% and app downloads nearly doubled from September 2014 to September 2015. “Program plays” — via the Showtime Anytime app and MVPD apps that provide Showtime content — increased 64% from August 2014 to August 2015.

Still, TVE remains an additional conduit, rather than a primary one. Showtime Anytime users are moving fluidly from the linear channel, the DVR, set-top VOD to the app, as just 6% of the network’s viewers watch Showtime content exclusively on the TVE app, Showtime executive vice president, research, program planning and scheduling Kim Lemon said.

HBO has seen similar usage patterns across HBO Go, its TV Everywhere offering, and HBO Now, its new standalone OTT subscription service, Aulestia said.

“For many years … consumer education was a big piece of what many of us spent a lot of time working on,” she said. “But once they [consumers] use it, they’re sold.”

And the apps-based approach has not cannibalized other parts of HBO’s business. For example, HBO Go, a mature product in TVE terms, has seen registrations jump 20% this year. “All boats have risen,” Aulestia said.

THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

Traditional set-top makers are also working on ways to stitch apps to the traditional TV offering. While TiVo has been doing this for years on its retail and MVPD-tailored digital video recorders, Arris is also blazing that path with Arris Market, a platform that enables its MSO partners to blend OTT with TV.

Heading into next year, Arris aims to “drive wild and wide adoption” of its approach as it introduces a new pricing model for Arris Market, vice president of product management Ron Miller said.

Arris has already integrated Netflix, Pandora, i-Velozity (an IP video-on-demand service now owned by Evolution Digital), Toon Goggles, Weather Network, Newsmax and thousands of Web clips (via a partnership with Wurl) to its platform. It’s in the midst of obtaining certification for YouTube. “Netflix, YouTube, Amazon and Hulu … those are the four constants in the discussion,” Miller said.

OTT providers are also eager to be integrated on set-top platforms. “It’s called the fight for Input 1 on the remote control,” Miller said.

For our list of programmer OTT apps, please click here.

The nine largest incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed 54 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied set-tops versus just 618,000 of the removable security modules in TiVo boxes, TVs and other retail products that sport a CableCARD slot, per the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s latest report to the FCC.

That’s an increase of 1 million versus the 53 million CableCARDs that those same operators had deployed when the NCTA filed its previous report in August, and a mere 1,000 more CableCARDs in retail devices.

The NCTA has been issuing these reports since the FCC’s ban on integrated security set-tops took effect in July 2007. Thepassing of the STELAR Act, which became law on Dec. 4, 2014, activated a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on integrated security set-tops after a year.

The FCC has since been focusing on a potential successor to the CableCARD based on downloadable security systems that could be applied to cable operators as well as other MVPDs, including telcos and satellite TV providers.

As part of that pursuit, the FCC-appointed the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), which in August presented multiple non-CableCARD options, I ncluding an apps-based approach favored by cable operators and an AllVid-style approach favored by others, including Google, that discuss the implementation of a “virtual headend” and a government-specified gateway devices that can unite video from various MVPDs. http://www.multichannel.com/news/next-tv/fcc-group-presents-multiple-non-cablecard-paths/393305

Interested parties filed comments on the final DSTAC report in early October. A summary of those comments are available here. Reply comments are due Nov. 9, 2015. 

The FCC-appointed Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee (DSTAC)  provided multiple, possible paths to a post-CableCARD world, and, like its report, the responses that poured into the Commission docket on the matter were similarly divisive.

The DSTAC report included an apps-based proposal approach favored by cable operators and another AllVid-style approach, favored by companies such as Google, that discuss the implementation of a “virtual headend” and a government-specified gateway device capable of uniting video from various sources. It also covers an apps-based approach that would support competitive UIs.

The formation of the DSTAC in January followed the passing of the STELAR Act, legislation that will sunset the current set-top security integration ban in December 2015 and called on the FCC to take a look at a successor approach to the CableCARD that could spur the retail market for video navigation devices for not just cable operators, but other MVPDs.

The FCC Media Bureau  recently sought comments on the final DSTAC report, which came rolling in under the October 8 deadline. Reply comments are due Nov. 9, 2015. 

The FCC has not announced if it would follow with a larger Notice of Inquiry or a full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the matter. However, it does have plenty of arguments to weigh on each side – whether to stay its hand, or pursue a new mandate that would establish a successor to the original, cable-focused integrated set-top security ban that took effect in July 2007…and failed, quite miserably, to create a vibrant retail market for set-tops (at last count, the top nine incumbent U.S. cable operators had deployed about 53 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied set-tops, compared to a comparatively paltry 617,000 in retail devices).

As reported yesterday, NCTA reiterated its view that the FCC reject calls to create new technology mandate, noting that the “apps revolution” has brought pay TV services to twice as many consumer video devices as there are set-top boxes currently in use. It also labeled the AllVid concept as “pure vaporware,” and warned against the pitfalls of allowing a system that disaggregates pay TV services.

Here’s a summary of several (but not all) comments submitted this round:

Google

Google is squarely in the AllVid/virtual headend camp.

In its comments, Google noted that it had to develop its own set-top equipment for video services provided by Google Fiber, and that “[u]nlike most set-top equipment, the Google Fiber devices and interfaces allow subscribers easily to switch between Google Fiber’s linear programming channels and online video options like VUDU, YouTube, and a Netflix account…The Commission should commence a rulemaking to ensure that all consumers enjoy these sorts of options.”

The app-based approach with operator-provided UI, Google said, would not assure a competitive retail market for navigation devices and that it would “lock consumers into having their video consumption experience framed and controlled entirely by the MVPD,” leaving little to no room for customization or innovation by third parties.

Comcast

Like the NCTA and its other cable industry constituents, Comcast favors the apps-based proposal, calling AllVid a “warmed over” and “flawed and unnecessary technology mandate” that “exceeds the Commission’s authority” and would go beyond Congress’s mandate in STELAR.

Comcast argued that AllVid would increase security risks, extend unnecessary costs to consumers, eat more power. Additionally, the MSO argued, it would require MVPDs to redesign their networks and break apart their services in a way that would let CE manufacturers “repackage with their own user interfaces, effectively turning MVPDs into wholesale content suppliers to these manufacturers (but without contractual privity or protections) and develop an undefined, new piece of on-premises equipment that customers would have to rent to enable access to MVPD service on an AllVid-compatible CE device.”

As for apps, Comcast said its Xfinity TV Go App, which today provides about 80 live channels and more than 22,000 VOD choices, has been downloaded more than 17.9 million times, an increase of 60% over the past seven months. Comcast also said Xfinity apps also provide Title VI protections (such as Emergency Alert Systems, closed captioning and consumer privacy protections).

Comcast also brought up its support of the Digital Living Network Alliance’s VidiPath initiative (subscription required), which lets MVPDs stream their services securely over the home network to other VidiPath-compatible, customer-owned devices through a downloaded MVPD app.

Update: Comcast also noted that it is developing an HTML5-based app with Encrypted Media Extensions (EME), which, it said, “would enable access to Xfinity service on compatible device platforms without the need for building customized native apps for every device platform.”

That approach, Comcast said, would help Comcast deliver services to smart TVs, retail set-tops and other TV-connected devices, which today “currently operate in much more fragmented markets using different operating systems.”  Comcast added that it’s also working towards supporting HTML5 with EME on its X1 platform, which will allow X1-capable set-top boxes will be able to support a wider range of third-party apps.

TiVo

TiVo reiterated that it’s a “longtime advocate for a replacement of the CableCARD standard with solutions that better reflect today’s marketplace and technology” and argued the FCC to build on the committees report and initiate a rulemaking.

TiVo noted that its new Bolt product, which supports pay TV, OTA and OTT video services, demonstrates the kind of innovation that the retail device market has brought to bear with the CableCARD, despite its “often cumbersome” installation process and historic issues with MVPD support for it.

“The availability of non-proprietary nationwide security solutions free cable operators to purchase set-top boxes from a variety of suppliers, rather than being locked in to purchasing set-top boxes from a single conditional access vendor,” TiVo argued.

And without a successor system, “smaller operators will again be locked into a single supplier of conditional access solutions on a system-by-system basis as they were prior to CableCARD,” TiVo said.

The company also argued that the apps-based approach, while “are no doubt welcome to consumers…do not measure up to the type of retail competition mandated by Section 629.”

EchoStar

EchoStar, the set-top and technology unit with corporate ties to Dish Network, said it “generally supports the conclusions set forth in the DSTAC Summary Report,” but warned that if the FCC decides to move forward it “must not oversimplify this complex technological and service delivery ecosystem, as doing so would likely lead to a regime that does not adequately reflect and protect the legitimate interests of all affected parties.”

EchoStar also highlighted that the pay TV industry is made up of one-way systems (like satellite TV) and two-way systems, and that the technical diversity of the industry will make it difficult to come up with a “one size fits all” approach.

Verimatrix

The maker of IPTV security for various types of providers said it has “solved the security aspects” that are similar to the problem presented to the DSTAC, noting that its platform supports multiple DRMs using downloadable software, but that it “does not favor forced standardization by government mandate at this level.”

“However, certain discrete elements and interfaces within an MVPDs security system can be standardized on a go-forward basis that would be helpful to competition and innovation without undue harm to security,” the company said. “We have these interfaces clearly identified in our solutions and are working on voluntary standardization of them in various fora. We will highlight these possible areas of standardization herein, but we do not propose that the FCC mandate them.”

Hauppauge Computer Works

Hauppauge advocates the pursuit of competitive interfaces and the virtual headend proposal and urged the FCC to move ahead on new rules.

“Apps are good, but you need to read the fine print,” it said, noting that there needs to be an API open to developers. Operator-provided UIs, the company added, are proprietary and can only be developed by select individuals and run on select TV systems.”

Public Knowledge

The group is in favor of the virtual headend proposal, and wants the FCC to take action and pursue a new rulemaking.

“After years of inaction, the Commission now has the chance to finally fulfil its statutory duty of promoting a competitive market for video navigation devices,” PK said. “The Commission should take that opportunity, and building on the DSTAC report’s ‘virtual head-end’ proposal, move quickly to a rulemaking proceeding that formalizes a new standard allowing differentiated devices to access and display MVPD content.”

PK held that the app proposal “would be a step back from the existing CableCARD system.”

Further, it isn’t buying cable’s disaggregation argument, holding that Congress envisioned that navigation could be separated by a different entity than the MVPD’s linear video offering.

“What the MVPDs characterize as ‘disaggregation’ is in fact the approach most consistent with  Congressional intent and the statutory scheme, which is why it is the approach already taken by the CableCARD system, which cable operators claim to support.”

American Cable Association

The group, which represents independent cable operators, urged the FCC to proceed with “great caution” before putting forth any new technology mandates. And the ACA argued against the AllVid approach and in favor of the apps-based proposal.

“To ensure the continued availability of MVPD service and to avoid the significant costs that MVPDs would incur to comply with unnecessary technical mandates, the Commission must eschew the Device Proposal and permit MVPDs to continue with the flexible, pro-competitive approach that has been developed in the market and is embodied in the App Proposal.”

“For traditional cable operators who have many navigation devices in the field capable only of receiving QAM signals, the transition to IP delivery necessarily will occur over a period of years,” the ACA said. “Market forces will determine the precise pace of the transition so that small cable operators can afford to make the transition in an orderly, non-disruptive, and non-economically burdensome manner.”

The device-based approach would require “millions of dollars of network upgrades in a short span of time.”

Sony Electronics

Any government-mandated solution “should be made available to third-party device manufacturers on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms” and enable consumers to  access “the full array of MVPD services for which they have subscribed,” Sony Electronics said in its comments. “It should not enable MVPDs to choose winners and losers among device manufacturers, and it should not enable device manufacturers to pick winners and losers among MVPDs.”

Amazon

Amazon said the DSTAC report agreed that downloadable content security is achievable, but that control over navigation devices’ user interfaces ““is a question of policy, not content security.”

“Although important to competition and improved user experiences, the question of which party controls a device’s UI falls outside of the scope of content security, as the DSTAC members agree,” Amazon noted.

Arris

Arris, a top maker of set-tops that’s trying to acquire U.K.-based Pace plc, said it supports the apps-based proposal.

“As detailed in the DSTAC Report, the apps-based approach is built on a track record of marketplace success in enabling consumer access to a widening array of connected devices,” Arris said. “In contrast, an AllVid-type approach would be unduly burdensome on MVPDs and their customers and should be avoided.”

Consumers Union

The Consumers Union argued that consumers “have no practical alternatives to renting set-top boxes that can access MVPD content…The time is ripe for the Commission to develop a universally relied upon standard that ensures that design and licensing of technology is not controlled only by a few special interests.”

Nagra

Nagra told the FCC that the focus should be on security and, more precisely, on “downloadable security technology,” rather than “higher-layer and other functions which are ancillary to security.”

“We believe that solving the navigation, guide and meta-data problems will largely be solved as part of a well-reasoned security solution,” Nagra said. “We caution the Commission that attempting to comingle navigation issues with security issues yields a much more complicated discussion, and unnecessarily complicates the underlying (and significant) security challenges.”

Comptel

Comptel, which represents wireline and wireless providers in the broadband marketplace, said the development of online video distributor options “is good for consumers, for video competition, and for broadband deployment and adoption.”

But as long as incumbent cable operators control the development and distribution of set-top boxes, “they can deter consumers from accessing independent content over their set-top boxes and televisions,” it said, concluding that the FCC should move ahead with a rulemaking that will promote more retail competition for video navigation devices.

The Motion Picture Association of America

The Motion Picture Association of America (members include Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures Corp., Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., Universal City Studios LLC, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.) said its committed to providing content “through a wide variety of platforms and distributors.”

But when push comes to shove, the app-based proposal “will meet those goals.”

“By leveraging the strength of downloadable applications, this approach will offer device manufacturers a variety of ways to access video, as well as enable them to innovate and differentiate their equipment, without interfering with licensing agreements,” the MPAA said.

As for the competitive navigation proposal, it “makes no commitment to abide by content providers’ licensing terms,” the group said. “Third-parties could potentially seek to disassemble the programming, features, and functions offered over distribution services and selectively reassemble some of them for their own commercial exploitation. This could interfere with contracts, upset copyright law, and run afoul of the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”

That approach would likewise “impose significant costs, require the restructuring of networks, and necessitate standards yet to be developed. Thus, it fails the DSTAC’s charge to avoid solutions that are unduly burdensome.”

AT&T/DirecTV

Like other MVPDs, AT&T/DirecTV favors the apps-based proposal, holding that the alternative “would take the Commission beyond its statutory authority by exceeding the ‘device’ competition addressed by Section 629 of the Act and venturing into ‘service’ competition, which is not so addressed.”

They also feared that AllVid would deprive customers of the features and functionalities that customers expect from their MVPD service and pay for and “[blur] the lines of responsibility for addressing service problems and questions.”

DirecTV, the filing noted, uses RVU technology (which is similar in some ways to VidiPath) to provide a remote user interface to multiple televisions or other RVU-compliant retail devices, eliminating the need for additional set-top boxes in each room.

“Dumbing down MVPD services and stripping out their features – which the Device Proposal or other similar governmental technology mandate would do — is exactly the wrong approach in a marketplace where consumers already ubiquitously access MVPD and OVD content on a wide and growing array of retail devices,” they said.

DLNA

DLNA  put forth its own VidiPath approach as an alternative.

“The Commission should not (and need not) create a new system from scratch,” it said. “VidiPath is an existing solution that is proven and being deployed to market by a number of MVPDs.”

The FCC Media Bureau announced Monday that it is seeking public comments on the final report that the Commission-appointed Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee (DSTAC) submitted last Friday (August 28).

The FCC, which also posted the six-page report here, said comments are due Oct. 8, 2015, with reply comments due Nov. 9, 2015. Docket 15-64 has been setup for the process. The FCC has not announced plans to follow with a larger Notice of Inquiry or a full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the matter.

“By this Public Notice, the Media Bureau seeks comment on the DSTAC’s report, including the four Working Group reports attached to the final report, and how it should inform the Commission’s obligations under Section 629 of the Communications Act,” the FCC Media Bureau noted.

The formation of the DSTAC in January followed the passing of the STELAR Act, legislation that will sunset the current set-top security integration ban in December 2015 and called on the FCC to take a look at a successor approach to the CableCARD that could spur the retail market for video navigation devices for not just cable operators, but other MVPDs.

The DSTAC report presents two security proposals -- one that relies on HTML-5 security APIs and associated encrypted media extensions  for distribution in the home and via the cloud, and a “virtual headend” approach whereby the network security and condition access is handled in the cloud with interfaces between the operator and the device using protection such as DTCP-IP.

The scope of DSTAC’s work also was not unified, as it spanned multiple  non-security and control plane components. A proposed app-based approach would retain the MVPD’s user interface as services are made available on IP-connected retail devices such as gaming consoles, tablets and PCs.  Another approach factors in competitive navigation/UIs that empower CE companies, such as TiVo, to create and implement their own guides.

The Consumer Video Choice Coalition -- a group whose membership includes CCIA, COMPTEL,  Public Knowledge;  Ceton, Google, Hauppauge, SiliconDust, TiVo and Vizio – applauded the DSTAC’s work and the  FCC’s decision to put out its call for public comment. The CVCC also wants the FCC to follow with policies that would lead to a vibrant market for set-tops and other video devices.

"The DSTAC process was productive, in that it showed that the disagreement between cable companies and others about the set-top box market is not about what technologies are possible, but what outcome the FCC should work for,” the group said, in a statement. “ The Consumer Video Choice Coalition believes that the FCC should adopt policies that are most likely to lead to a competitive set-top box marketplace, where consumers can choose from a variety of devices at different price points and with different feature sets, and no longer have to rent outdated devices from their TV provider.”

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association also was generally pleased with the DSTAC report, but was not wild about the potential return of an AllVid proposal that originally envisioned a government-specified gateway device uniting video from various sources.

"Regrettably, the report veers off course by including a controversial proposal to place a burdensome technology mandate on MVPDs known as AllVid," NCTA said in a statement released late last week. "This approach could jeopardize consumer protections including privacy, emergency alerts, parental controls, and inhibit innovation by allowing the government to dictate the way video content is delivered to consumers." 

As expected, an FCC-appointed committee on Friday presented the Commission with multiple paths toward a post-CableCARD world for retail video devices, including downloadable video security options that would allow for competitive user interfaces.

Formed in January, the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) provided its recommendations to the FCC a week ahead of a September 4 deadline. The DSTAC came together following the passing of the STELAR Act, legislation that will sunset the current set-top security integration ban in December 2015 and called on the FCC to take a look at a successor approach that could spur the retail market for video navigation devices for not just cable operators, but other MVPDs.

The CableCARD regime has failed miserably with respect to sparking a robust market for cable-ready retail devices. The NCTA, in its last report to the FCC on the matter, said the top nine incumbent U.S. cable operators had deployed about 53 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied set-tops since ban on integrated security took effect in July 2007, versus 617,000 CableCARD modules that were deployed in TiVo boxes, TVs and other retail products with CableCARD slots.

For the DSTAC, the big trick is to provide recommendations that could achieve a downloadable, platform-neutral system without being “unduly burdensome” while also applying to MVPDs that use a wide range of access technologies and proprietary video security and conditional access systems.

The DSTAC report, at six pages, has yet to be released (the FCC did not announce when it would make them public), but two members of the committee – Jay Rolls, SVP and CTO of Charter Communications; and Milo Medin, VP of access services at Google, provided a summarized view of the group's findings.

While the final recommendations offer multiple paths that could be mixed and matched to achieve the goals of the initiative, Rolls said the DSTAC did find agreement on several points. For example, the group recognized that MVPD networks are diverse and varied. “We all agree that you don’t want to overhaul those networks just to accommodate a brand new security system.”

He also said the proposals also did not recommend a solution based on “common reliance,” which is a concept whereby operator-supplied equipment uses the same security system as retail devices to receive MVPD services.  “That was deemed not to be necessary,” Rolls said.

The DSTAC also agreed that its recommendations should center around IP protocol, whether delivered from the MVPD or by a product in the home, and that the MVPD must retain control of the downloadable element. “Security is a very sensitive topic and needs to be very tightly controlled,” he said.

On the security end, there were two proposals – one that relies on HTML-5 security APIs and associated encrypted media extensions  for distribution in the home and via the cloud, and a “virtual headend” approach whereby the network security and condition access is handled in the cloud with interfaces between the operator and the device using protection such as DTCP-IP.

The scope of DSTAC’s work also was not unified, as it spanned multiple  non-security and control plane components.

A proposed app-based approach would retain the MVPD’s user interface as services are made available on IP-connected retail devices such as gaming consoles, tablets and PCs. MVPDs use or plan to use various methods for that, including DLNA’s VidiPath approach that is resonating with cable operators, RVU (in use by DirecTV), and the technology Dish Network is using for its Virtual Joey app.

Another approach factors in competitive navigation/UIs that empower CE companies, such as TiVo, to create and implement their own guides. That work focused on three primary interfaces – service discovery, entitlement information (content a consumer has rights to access); and content delivery (whether it allows for live TV, on demand or cloud DVR streams, or a mix of them). The approach also factors in different DRM approaches and the transfer of metadata to deliver navigation/interfaces that consumers can digest, Medin explained.

The DSTAC suggests that the different proposals could be combined in different ways to achieve the goals of creating a vibrant market for retail video devices that can support MVPD services. 

Rolls called the DSTAC exercise “truly a team effort,” while acknowledging that the recommendations were not finalized without some lively discussion. “We weren’t clawing each other’s eyes out. It was a very civil debate,” he said.

“Engineers are very good at solving problems but the definition of the problem matters a whole lot,” Medin said.

Next steps will include the publishing of the report itself. The FCC has not said how it might act on the DSTAC proposals, and if the Commission might follow with a Notice of Inquiry or a full Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

If the FCC moves ahead on a rulemaking, Evolution Digital, a supplier of set-tops and video software mostly to tier 2/3 MVPDs, suggested in a letter to the FCC on August 21 that the Commission should exempt small operators as such rules could be “unduly burdensome” from a financial and engineering perspective partly because it would force them to embark on IP video transitions prematurely.

Though consensus has been fleeting, an FCC-appointed committee is slated this week to present its recommendations for a downloadable video security system that could ultimately succeed the CableCARD.

That group – the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) – is scheduled to present its final summary report to the Commission on Friday (August 28). The 90-minute rendezvous will be get underway at 10 a.m. ET, and will be streamed live here.

The DSTAC was formed in January after the passing of the STELAR Act, legislation that will sunset the current set-top security integration ban in December 2015, and calls on the FCC to pursue a downloadable alternative to the CableCARD. The DSTAC is to file its recommendations to the FCC by Sept. 4.

It’s unknown what the FCC will do next, including whether it will follow with a Notice of Inquiry, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or simply sit idle.

The DSTAC last met on August 4 (subscription required), and it was clearly apparent that the group would be challenged to come together on a unified proposal. 

The meeting focused on multiple technology proposals that attempt to establish platform-neutral video security approaches to support third-party retail devices and work with various multichannel video programming distributors, including cable operators, telcos and satellite-TV providers. The group has had trouble agreeing on a common system that can apply to all MVPDs while taking into account a multitude of legacy platforms, as well as newer IP-based delivery systems.

On the IP side two proposals have been pushed forward. One, presented by Public Knowledge, centers on the concept of a cloud-based “virtual headend,” where the heavy lifting would be done before encrypted content is delivered to a third-party set-top or other type of video device.

To address the legacy issue presented by services that still rely on QAM/MPEG-based video transport, the proposal also discusses the use of a discrete device that would essentially convert the legacy signal into a secure IP-based transport stream that could be viewed by retail devices. That approach appears to be a revival of an “AllVid” proposal that the cable industry has previously argued against over claims that it forces the disaggregation of MVPD services.

A second proposal, which appears to be the one endorsed by more traditional MVPDs, is app-based, centered on Web-based platforms and standards where content can be delivered over HTML-5 with Encrypted Media Extensions (EME).  Many such apps have been written and deployed, supporting a range of retail devices.

Some DSTAC members, including Dr. Joseph Weber of TiVo, countered that the app-centric approach merely maintains the MVPDs’ interfaces and does not provide a path for competitive UIs.

The top nine incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed about 53 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied set-tops and a mere 617,000 of the removable security modules in TiVo boxes, TVs and other retail products with CableCARD slots, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s latest report to the FCC.

That’s about 400,000 more than the 52.61 million CableCARDs deployed in MSO-supplied boxes when compared to the NCTA’s report to the FCC in May, which represented an increase of about 1.1 million versus the NCTA’s report in February. The latest report also showed that 3,000 fewer security modules are present in retail devices versus the NCTA’s most recent report in May.

The NCTA has been issuing these reports since the FCC’s ban on integrated security set-tops took effect in July 2007. The passing of the STELAR Act, which became law late last year, activated a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on integrated security set-tops after a year.

The FCC is now tasked with pursuing a successor to the CableCARD that will focus on downloadable security systems that could be applied to cable operators as well as other MVPDs, including telcos and satellite TV providers.

To help with that pursuit, the FCC in January appointed the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), which must file a report with the Commission detailing its findings by Sept. 4, 2015. The next DSTAC meeting is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Tuesday, Aug. 4), at 10 a.m. ET.

The scope and direction of the DSTAC has been a source of tension. Last month, a bipartisan pair of House members asked the Committee to keep to its statutory mandate and not stray into reviving an AllVid proposal that has historically gotten lots of push-back from the cable industry.

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) say information they collected from the top 10 pay TV providers indicates a continuing lack of choice and competition in the Pay TV video set-top box market.

That comes as the FCC works on a downloadable set-top security successor to the CableCARD after its integration ban was legislated away in the STELAR satellite reauthorization legislation.

Markey and Blumenthal decried that lack of competition (the ban was scrapped in part because it had failed to prompt a robust competitive box market) and said their info showed that households were spending north of $231 per year on set-top rental fees.

The senators asked for the info last November.

“Consumers should have the same range of choices for their video set-top boxes as they have for their mobile phones,” said Markey, who had opposed shelving the integration ban, in a joint statement outlining some of the findings. "When Congress last year regrettably removed the requirement that cable company services be compatible with set-top boxes purchased in the marketplace rather than rented directly from the provider, we doomed consumers to being captive to cable company rental fees forever."

“Consumers deserve protection against hidden, hideously vexing fees for set-top boxes,” added Blumenthal.

Answering the survey were Comcast, DirecTV, Dish Network, Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS Video, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks.

The senators pointed out that that was a 10 out of 10 response rate, but added that Dish, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable declined to answer many questions on proprietary grounds while others answered those same questions.

Among the other findings:

"1)    "American MVPD subscribers spend, on average, $89.16 a year renting a single set-top box. The average set-top box rental fee for each company was used to calculate an overall set-top box rental cost average across companies: $7.43 a month, or $89.16 per year.

2)    "The average household spends $231.82 a year on set-top box rental fees. The responses to Senators’ letters indicate that the average number of set top boxes leased to a household is approximately 2.6. That number, multiplied by the average cost of a set-top box, totals $231.82.

3)    "The set-top box rental market may be worth more than $19.5 billion per year. According to publicly available information, there are approximately 221 million installed set-top boxes that are leased from MVPDs (including cable, satellite and telecom operators). Using this data, the average yearly fee for a single set-top box was multiplied by the total number of set-top boxes leased from MVPDs to determine that the industry generates $19.5 billion in revenue."

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association countered that the senators were misreprenting the issue and the STELAR Act.

“In today’s competitive video marketplace, American consumers have a growing number of choices of video providers and ways to access video content on multiple devices in and out of the home," said the NCTA in response. "Retail devices including TiVo, Roku and Apple TV have been purchased by tens of millions of consumers. Pay TV and content providers have embraced the mobile marketplace and offer robust apps that have been downloaded 52 million times on Apple and Android devices.   

"In 2014, an overwhelmingly bipartisan Congress wisely enacted legislation that sunset an unnecessary and expensive mandate that saddles consumers of cable leased set-top boxes with high costs and higher energy bills. And as even TiVo has acknowledged, elimination of the integration ban will not affect the market for retail devices and CableCARDs will continue to be available. It’s unfortunate Senators Markey and Blumenthal continue to misrepresent the text and impact of the STELAR Act.”

The FCC’s pursuit of a successor to the CableCARD continued to heat up this week as a group comprised of Google, Amazon, Public Knowledge, TiVo and others warned the Commission that putting too fine a focus on downloadable security without addressing the greater goal of furthering the competitive availability of set-tops and other navigation devices “would result in a walled-garden approach.”

Members of the group (see below for the full list) addressed their concerns in a letter to members of the FCC Media Bureau on May 11, ahead of the next scheduled meeting of the FCC-appointed Downloadable Security  Advisory Committee (DSTAC), set for this Wednesday (May 13).

The DSTAC, comprised of 18 individuals, was formed in January after the STELAR Act became law in December 2014, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year. The DSTAC is slated to file its recommendations to the FCC by September 4.

“The FCC Media Bureau staff’s efforts in coordinating and overseeing the DSTAC should continue to further the Congressional directives in Section 629,” the group wrote in the May 11 letter.  “In particular, any solution recommended by DSTAC should ensure that device manufacturers can differentiate retail products from MVPDs’ leased products."

On that point, they said manufacturers should be able to provide innovative and distinctive features, including unique user interfaces, enhanced search functionality, and improved means for recording and viewing content consistent with copyright law. They also said users of retail devices should be able to access the full complement of MVPD video service offerings, while also being able to pick between “premium devices with advanced functionality” as well as “simpler, lower cost devices according to their preference.”

“The DSTAC should achieve a recommendation that functionally supersedes the CableCARD, without a need for the CableCARD hardware,” they added.

A different group comprised of MVPDs, vendors and cable industry organizations, including several members of the DSTAC, issued a letter of their own last month that outlined concerns they have about the scope, direction and “policy detours” being made by a FCC-appointed committee.

That group also argued that the DSTAC was being steered into developing a method by which an MVPD’s retail offering would be “disassembled into individual piece parts” that a retail device maker could then selectively reassemble into a new configuration and service.  

They also claimed that FCC staff had proposed the DSTAC to define “non-security APIs,” to access these piece parts of the service, arguing that those proposals likewise “hark back to the ‘AllVid’ concept,” whereby pay-TV providers would need to deploy a separate adapter that would “enable a retail device to disassemble a provider’s retail subscription service for reassembly into a new service for commercial exploitation.”

The Free State Foundation echoed as much in this statement, also issued May 11, arguing that the FCC has charged the DSTAC with a task that “strays from Congress’s mandate for a report on downloadable security for next-generation devices… Requiring DSTAC to develop methods for disaggregating bundled video programming and menu contents are outside the scope of STELAR's mandate. Congress directed the FCC's Chairman to establish a working group focused on a ‘downloadable security system.’”

The group represented by Google, TiVo and Public Knowledge said the committee must dig deeper.

“Limiting the DSTAC’s scope to downloadable security alone, without reference to the committee’s broader mandate of furthering the competitive availability of navigation devices, would result in a walled-garden approach that does not promote the vigorous competition and innovation envisioned by Section 629,” they wrote.

The May 11 letter to the FCC Media Bureau’s William Lake, Brendan Murray and Nancy Murphy was signed by the following:

- Matthew Clark, Amazon (DSTAC member)

- Gary Hammer, Ceton Corp.

- Daniel O’Connor, Computer & Communications Industry

- Angela Kronenberg, Comptel

- Matt Wood , Free Press

- Milo Medin, Google (DSTAC member)

- Brad Love, Hauppauge (DTAC member)

- Abigail Slater, The Internet Association

- Joshua  Goldberg, Open Technology Institute at New America

- Adam Goldberg,  Public Knowledge (DSTAC member)

-Theodore Head, Silicondust USA

- Dr. Joseph Weber, TiVo (DSTAC member)

- Ellen Stuzman, Writers Guide of America, West  

The top nine incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed more than 52.61 million CableCARD modules in MSO-supplied set-tops, according to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s latest report to the FCC.

That represents an increase of about 1.1 million from the NCTA's last report, issued in February.

By comparison, the number of CableCARDs currently deployed by those MSOs for use in retail-bought video devices such as TiVo DVRs and integrated HDTVs was just above 620,000 – roughly the same figure reported by the NCTA in February.

The NCTA has been issuing these reports since the FCC’s ban on integrated security set-tops took effect in July 2007. The passing of the STELAR Act, which became law late last year, activated a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on integrated security set-tops after a year.

The FCC is now tasked with pursuing a successor to the CableCARD that will focus on downloadable security systems that could be applied to cable operators as well as other MVPDs, including telcos and satellite TV providers.

To help with that pursuit, the FCC in January appointed the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), which must file a report with the Commission detailing its findings by Sept. 4, 2015. The next DSTAC meeting is scheduled to take place Wednesday, May 13, at 10 a.m. ET.

In April, a group that includes several MVPDs, the NCTA, American Cable Association, and CableLabs, have voiced concerns about the scope and direction of the FCC-appointed committee.

The FCC’s pursuit of a successor to the CableCARD (pictured) is morphing into a tension-filled affair as a group comprised of MVPDs, vendors and industry organizations issued a lengthy letter outlining concerns they have about the scope, direction and “policy detours” being made by a Commission-appointed committee that is tasked with providing recommendations that will aid the FCC’s pursuit of a new downloadable video security system that would apply to cable operators, telcos and satellite TV service providers and endeavor to spark a vibrant retail market for set-tops and other video devices.

Meanwhile, TiVo, which is on the committee and a company that has a big stake in the outcome, issued a statement of its own, calling the letter an “inappropriate attempt by incumbents to pre-judge the outcome of the technical working group and infect the process with non-technical policy arguments that have been addressed in prior FCC proceedings.”

The DSTAC, comprised of 18 individuals, was formed in Januaryafter the STELAR Act became law in December 2014, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year. The DSTAC is slated to file its recommendations to the FCC by September 4. The next DSTAC meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21.

The letter -- dated April 10 and addressed to Cheryl Tritt of Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer, the chair of the Downloadable Security Advisory Committee (DSTAC) -- complained that the committee “is veering into areas that are well outside its statutorily-defined charter,” and being “diverted toward proposals that would hinder the ability of consumers to access MVPD and online video services on their growing number of devices.”

The letter argues that the DSTAC is being steered into developing a method by which an MVPD’s retail offering would be “disassembled into individual piece parts” that a retail device maker could then selectively reassemble into a new configuration and service.

“From the very first meeting, working group deliberations were nearly derailed by a staff directive that the DSTAC “committee shall develop” a means to disaggregate service even if participants believe that those features should not be mandatory,” the letter claimed.

They are also concerned about how the DSTAC discussions are emphasizing a new “box” that would conceivably disassemble MVPD service into outputs that a device maker could rearrange, combine and overlay with its own UI.

They also claim that FCC staff has proposed the DSTAC to define “non-security APIs,” to access these piece parts of the service, that, in the group’s estimation “is beyond the DSTAC’s well-defined ‘downloadable security’ mission” that could “raise significant contract and copyright issues.”

Those proposals, they argued, “hark back to the ‘AllVid’ concept,” whereby pay-TV providers would need to deploy a separate adapter that would “enable a retail device to disassemble a provider’s retail subscription service for reassembly into a new service for commercial exploitation.” Further, they believe a new AllVid-like approach would preclude many consumers from receiving MVPD and online video services directly via secure downloadable IP apps on devices such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles. The FCC initially asked for feedback on the AllVid idea in 2010, but has not acted on the proposal. Amid growing concerns about the notion of a “black box,” the Commission directed the DSTAC at the March 30 meeting not to focus on implementations yet, but to instead sort out the technical requirements. 

“Resurrecting AllVid variants here is already needlessly bogging the DSTAC’s deliberations in controversy…” the group wrote, urging that the committee avoid such “policy detours” as the group builds its recommendations.

The group also railed against some interest in directing the DSTAC to use CableCARD as “starting point” for its work, despite the fact that distributors such as Dish Network, DirecTV and telcos that rely on IPTV, such as AT&T, never used the security module, and that the market is migrating to video apps that work independent of the CableCARD.

TiVo, meanwhile, said the letter “ignores the statutory reference to a ‘platform neutral’ solution and omits the statute’s reference to Section 629 as the underlying purpose of the working group which is to create a competitive retail navigation device market.”

TiVo added that the MVPDs involved in the letter (see below for more detail) are “trying to use the technical working group to try to turn back the clock and limit retail devices only to carrying MVPD apps,” holding that it would also extend their control over the interface, and prohibit retail devices from providing "fair use" competitive functionality such as DVR, side loading, and out of home streaming.

Matthew Zinn, TiVo’s SVP, general counsel and chief privacy officer, said the process has not yet reached the policy-making stage, so the group should instead focus on identifying possible technical solutions.

As for some of the issues addressed in the letter, he said TiVo has been able to apply its own UI while supporting the underlying copyright issues.

UPDATE: As for the disaggregation concerns addressed in the letter, TiVo also disagrees with assertions that elements such as weather apps and caller ID to the TV should be included in the definition of the cable service. Zinn said the FCC’s definition of cable service in this instance is all about programming, and shouldn’t be part of the DSTAC discussion, anyway.

“Those are issues that shouldn’t be debated in a technology advisory group,” he said. “They can be policy and regulatory issues that can be debated at a later time.  

The letter to Tritt (and copied to all DSTAC members) was signed by the following:

- American Cable Association, Patrick Murphy and Jason Hansen

- ARRIS Group,  Bruce McClelland (DSTAC member)

- AT&T, Dr. Ahmad Ansari (DSTAC member)

- Bright House Networks, Jeff Chen

- Cable Television Laboratories, Ralph Brown

- Cablevision Systems Corporation, Bob Clyne (DSTAC member)

- Charter Communications, Jay Rolls (DSTAC member)

- Cisco Systems, Edmond Shapiro

- Comcast, Mark Hess (DSTAC member)

- Cox Communications, Steve Watkins

- DirecTV, Steve Dulac

- Dish Network, John Card II (DSTAC member)

- Evolution Digital,Brent Smith (DSTAC member)

- Motion Picture Association of America, John McCoskey (DSTAC member)

- National Cable & Telecommunications Association, Andy Scott

- Time Warner Cable, Kevin Leddy

- Verimatrix, Petr Peterka

- Verizon Communications, David Young

Other members of the DSTAC include Brant Candelore of Sony; Matthew Clark of Amazon; Adam Goldberg, Public Knowledge;  Brad Love, Hauppauge; Kenneth Lowe, Vizio; Milo Medin, Google; Alan Messer, Samsung; Simha Sethumadhavan, Columbia University; Dr. Joseph Weber, TiVo; and Robin Wilson, Nagra.

For past coverage on the DSTAC, please see:

-CableCARD Successor Inches Ahead

-FCC Group Starts To Seek CableCARD's Successor

-‘Black Box’ Talk Dominates FCC’s First DSTAC Meeting

In a meeting last week that became testy at times, a committee tasked with helping the Federal Communications Commission create a successor to the CableCARD began to focus on commercial requirements for a new downloadable security platform for set-tops and other video devices that will work with multiple pay TV providers.

At a second meeting held last Tuesday (March 17), the FCC-appointed Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) outlined some initial ways it will try to ensure that the resulting system complies with the same legal requirements that are placed on multichannel video programing distributors (MVPDs).

The DSTAC, comprised of 18 individuals, was formed in January after the STELAR Act became law in December 2014, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year. The FCC is now tasked with finding a successor aimed at driving a retail market for set-tops and other video devices. The DSTAC is slated to file its recommendations to the FCC by September 4.

Part of last week’s discussion centered on defining the “service” itself, and whether that is limited to linear and video-on-demand, or a panoply that extends to features such as caller ID to the TV, dynamic ad insertion, customer care portals and customer service tools, and metadata associated with video content.

“Things have come a long way” over the past decade in terms of the sophistication of features that are now rolled into MVPD video services, Jay Rolls, SVP and CTO of Charter Communications, said.

Adam Goldberg, principal, AGP/Public Knowledge, outlined some desired baseline consumer requirements, noting that, at a high level, the downloadable system should provide the ability for unaffiliated third parties to build navigation devices for sale at retail in a way that is portable –  meaning a customer can use it with different MVPDs in different parts of the country.  That should also cover an MVPD’s full set of video services, including VOD, pay-per-view and more complicated services that are delivered suing switched digital video technologies, he said.

The meeting was also marked by some debate on whether third parties can disaggregate pieces of an MVPD’s service, because content is typically licensed as a service and, per the contracts, must be packaged together.

Charter’s Jay Rolls, for example, pointed out that there should be restrictions on relocating channels in the lineup, but Goldberg said it’s possible that “channel numbers might not flow through to a retail environment.”

The discussion did eventually shift to the topic of security. Robin Wilson, vice president, business development at Nagra, said the DSTAC must be mindful of creating a system that is renewable, noting that the downloader itself plays a “critical role” and needs to be recognized as “the Achilles Heel of this system.”  

‘Black Box’ Concept Polarizing

As was the case at the first DSTAC meeting in February, the notion of a “black box” remains a polarizing issue. Is it a separate piece of hardware or a logical chip-level component that would go into a set-top or another video device? Does the term even belong in the discussion?

The commission directed the committee not to focus on implementations yet. “The idea is to speak in terms of requirements,” Alison Neplokh, chief engineer for the FCC’s Media Bureau, said.

“We want to define the ‘what’ before we start working on the ‘how’,” Rolls agreed “That’s at the root. We want to nail down requirements before we try to solve the development piece of the solution.”

Creating those requirements is a major challenge considering the disparate systems used by MVPDs. In a portion of the meeting focused on technology and preferred architectures, Bob Clyne, senior vice president of engineering and new technologies at Cablevision Systems, noted that U.S. cable system control systems, video encryption and deciphering systems are far from uniform, and certainly differ from those operated by satellite TV and telco TV providers.

Are Apps The Answer?

There is also disagreement as to whether the use of video streaming apps solves the problem at hand.  MVPDs and their programming partners have developed authenticated apps that run on a wide range of retail devices, including iPads, Roku boxes and gaming consoles, but Goldberg argued that the UI remains largely under the control of operators, making it fall short of creating a fully open and competitive retail market.

“Maybe it’s good for consumers…but it doesn’t make it a competitive navigation device,” he said.

“It’s not completion if the choice of apps is only one, from the cable provider,” Dr. Joe Weber, chief technical officer for TiVo’s service provider business unit, said.

Mark Hess, senior vice president, office of the chief technology officer, business and industry affairs, Comcast Cable, countered that video app development has opened to door to more completion as MVPDs continue to extend services to smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles.

“The app world has embraced those platforms,” Hess said. “To frame this as non-competitive is just not factually correct…To say there’s no choice is ludicrous.”

Update: The FCC announced that the third DSTAC meeting will take place Tuesday, April 21, 2015 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET.

Long before Sony tried to beat cable operators at the pay-TV game, it tried hard – very hard -- to join them.

During the 16 years leading up to the commercial debut of PlayStation Vue, the OTT-pay TV service from Sony that launched in three markets on Wednesday and will compete with cable operators and other MVPDs, the CE giant embarked on a variety of initiatives aimed at working directly with the MSOs.

Many of those occasionally successful efforts involved selling set-tops to cable operators, and developing conditional access schemes that aimed to drive a wedge into the old General Instrument/Scientific-Atlanta (now Arris/Cisco Systems) duopoly. Sony even tried its hand at helping to push the tru2way platform as part of an ambitious, but ultimately failed, attempt to establish a robust retail market for cable-ready devices equipped with the clunky CableCARD.

While all of those attempts were novel, most fell short. Here’s a look at some of Sony’s U.S. pay-TV efforts over the years.

September 1999: The Cablevision/Sony deal

Marking its entry to the U.S. cable market while also dealing a blow to GI and S-A, Sony struck a $1 billion-plus deal to supply interactive, digital set-top boxes to Cablevision Systems.

Sony’s partnership with Cablevision didn’t go well or last long. In 2002, Cablevision shifted gears, opting to hitch its digital wagon to S-A boxes and headends. Importantly, Cablevision got S-A to agree to integrate conditional access technology from NDS Group (now part of Cisco), which was already being used in Cablevision’s Sony boxes. This ensured that Cablevision was able to keep its set-top box options relatively open because it did not have to be tied to the hip to S-A’s PowerKEY conditional access system.

-December 2002: Sony Books “Passage” To Set-Top Glory

Back when we still had The Western Show, Sony used the event in Anaheim to trot out “Passage,” a technology/technique that enabled two different conditional access systems to run side-by-side at the headend without gobbling up a bunch of bandwidth.  Boiled down, Passage was another shot at the cable box/security duopoly, viewed as a way to open up the door to new entrants.

It was an intriguing idea that gained some steam in the form of licensing agreements with Charter Communications, Comcast and even some device and chipmakers, including Conexant and Zenith/LG, but Passage never got beyond some trial work.

-May 2008: The Cable/Sony Tru2way MOU

Back when tru2way was still considered a possible path to retail nirvana for two-way video devices, Sony and what were then the six largest incumbent U.S. cable operators (Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Charter, Cablevision and Bright House) struck a condition-laden, complicated, binding memorandum of understanding for “interactive digital cable products” – mainly set-tops – that aimed to forge a “common reliance” around the deployment and adoption of tru2way in devices and on the network.

Among the commitments outlined in the MOU, the MSOs were tasked with providing network support tru2way in all digital cable systems by July 1, 2009 (Charter had until July 1, 2010). While the MOU still didn’t result in a big set-top pay day for Sony, the MOU did help the cable industry fend off a rival interactive platform called DCR+ favored by parties such as the Consumer Electronics Association.

November 2008: Sony’s Set-Top ‘Set-Back’

When Sony was still playing the tru2way tune, it partnered up with Advanced Digital Broadcast (ADB) on an interactive “set-back” box that could be mounted behind a Sony Bravia TVs.  The ADB-made set-back box is still finding deployment opportunities, but Sony’s interest in using it in tandem with TVs sold at retail died on the vine. However, it did make a temporary appearance in 2009 at a Sony retail outlet that used to be located at the Comcast Center in Philadelphia (Sony closed the store  last year).

January 2011: Sony, TWC Do A TV Deal

Before the video app craze and authenticated TV Everywhere apps started to take hold, Time Warner Cable and Sony used the CES confab in 2011 to announce that the operator would deliver its full TV lineup to connected Sony Bravia TVs later that year without needing a separate set-top. The MSO’s TWC TV app is now offered on a several platforms, including Samsung smart TVs, but still hasn’t shown up on any Sony TVs. 

Following an initial rollout in Connecticut, Cox Communications confirmed that its all-digital transition has stretched into systems serving Rhode Island and Tulsa, Okla.

Next in line are New Orleans and Cleveland as Cox looks to expand the migration to other systems through the end of this year and into 2016, Cox spokesman Todd Smith said.

Cox kicked off the transition in Connecticut late last year, a move that will enable the operator to reclaim spectrum currently being used to deliver about 60 analog TV channels. Cox will use that reclaimed capacity to pump up its digital TV channel offerings, expand its VOD service and free up spectrum for DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging multi-gigabit platform for HFC networks.

More than half of that reclaimed spectrum will be used for DOCSIS 3.1, Kevin Hart, Cox’s EVP and CTO, told Multichannel News in an interview last year.

Cox is deploying fiber-to-the-premises technology in a somewhat targeted fashion during its initial deployment of 1-Gig residential broadband services, though DOCSIS 3.1 is expected to play a keyrole  in a plan that calls for Cox to begin market-wide deployments of gigabit speeds by the end of 2016.  

To assist with all-digital migration, Cox is employing a “Mini Box,” a downstream-only Digital Transport Adapter (DTA) that converts digital signals to analog. Cox’s is using a new class of DTA with an HDMI port that supports high definition TV. Cox’s HD-DTAs will also come with a remote control, an on-screen guide, and parental controls.

Multichannel Newsreported in August  that Cox had selected Evolution Digital and Cisco Systems as its first two DTA suppliers.

Cox has launched a web site for its all-digital project. Cox is offering eligible subs one free Mini Box for up to 12 months, and leasing out additional units for $1.99 per month. Cox is also providing a free CableCARD for 12 months instead of  a Mini Box for subs with TiVo boxes and other CableCARD-compatible devices.

Alternatively, Cox customers affected by the all-digital shift can lease interactive set-tops with CableCARDs that support services and apps such as VOD, the operator’s new Contour interface, and premium channels .

The FCC has penciled in March 24 for the second meeting of the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), the group tasked with helping the agency pursue a successor to the CableCARD, the removable security module that failed to generate a robust retail market for cable-ready set-top boxes.

The first meeting, held in March, focused on the scope of the initiative, which aims to cover not just cable operators, but telco and satellite TV providers. Part of the discussion centered on the notion of a “black box,” that could end up being a new, discrete piece of hardware or merely a metaphor for a more virtualized component or chip that can be embedded in set-tops and other video devices.

The DSTAC is comprised of 18 individuals from companies such as Dish Network, Amazon, Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, TiVo and Google. They are charged with filing a report to the FCC by September 4 that identifies and recommends performance objectives and technical capabilities tied to a “platform-neutral software-based downloadable security system” that is “not unduly burdensome.” The committee was formed after the passing of the STELAR Act in December 2014, which will sunset the current integration ban this December and calls on the FCC to pursue a downloadable alternative. 

At the first meeting, the DSTAC also started to debate whether over-the-top services should be considered in the report, which is being researched as the FCC looks to create new rules that will would define some online video providers as MVPDs, at least with respect to access to cable and broadcast TV programming.

Is the notion of “black box” that can support video services from all forms of multichannel video programming distributors a discrete piece of new hardware or merely a metaphor for a more virtualized component or chip that can be embedded inside set-tops and other video devices?

That was one of many questions weighed last Monday (February 23), when the Federal Communications Commission-appointed Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) held its first meeting.

The group, comprised of 18 individuals from companies such as Dish Network, Amazon, Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, TiVo and Google, is tasked with investigating the successor to the CableCARD, a removable security module that failed to create a vibrant retail market for cable-ready retail video devices, and file its recommendations by September 4.

The committee is tackling the idea of a uniform solution even as other MVPDs, including Charter and Cablevision, have already developed and deployed downloadable security systems. Comcast and TiVo, meanwhile, are also pursuing a non-CableCARD solution.

The initial meeting focused on the scope of the report, including which types of navigation devices and the types of content and services – including linear TV and on-demand video -- should fit inside it.

The notion of an all-MVPD black box outfitted with downloadable security dominated the early discussions, though what form it will take remains an item that still needs to be clearly defined.

Talks gravitated toward a virtual module or even a chip that can support the baseline input and output requirements of pay-TV operators. That could end up spanning elements such as service discovery, channel tuning/content requests, emergency alert system information, closed captioning data, copy control information, subscriber authentication, and the audio and video streams themselves.

There are already factions forming on what this black box shouldn’t be.

Joe Weber, the chief technology officer for TiVo’s Service Provider Business Unit, warned that it would not be feasible for a retail CE company to support a multitude of separate devices that sits between it and the retail device from a wide range of MVPDs  

Concerns were also raised that adding yet another power-sucking device to the mix runs counter to the desire to lessen the pay-TV industry’s already sizable carbon footprint.

Alan Messer, vice president of advanced technology for Samsung’s Advanced Technology Lab, expressed some uneasiness about a so-called black box taking the form of a new chip, noting that it could significantly raise the materials costs for makers of TVs, DVRs and other retail video devices. Such a chip "might not be the right mindset,” he argued. 

Also up for debate is whether over-the-top services should be considered in the committee’s upcoming report, which is being researched as the FCC shoots for new rules that will would define some online video providers as MVPDs, at least with respect to access to cable and broadcast TV programming.

Mark Hess, SVP, office of the CTO, business and industry affairs at Comcast Cable, suggested that it will be difficult to exclude OTT from the discussion in a meaningful way given the current state of the video marketplace.

“It is an error to ignore it,” agreed Kenneth Lowe, vice president and co-founder of TV maker Vizio.

The process will also prove to be a challenge for MVPDs, such as satellite TV operators, that were not required to adhere to the original separable security rules. Dish Network, for example, is inherently a one-way, downstream-only platform. While its boxes do use broadband connections for upstream communications, they are out of Dish’s control and, therefore, not something that is fully reliable or secure.

“DBS is going to be the problem child here and bring in some unusual challenges,” John Card II, director of standards and technology, at EchoStar Technologies/Dish Network, warned.

While some on the committee are pushing for a successor that’s based on IP-based transport, others warned that MVPDs are not migrating there in lock-step.

“Not all operators move at the same timeframes,” Milo Medin, vice president of access services at Google, said. The challenge, he added, is to focus on solution that succeeds the CableCARD “without a multi-year gap.”

Another concern is whether metadata will be included in the downloadable security platform. Hess pointed out that MSOs such as Comcast strike separate deals for metadata and the rights on how they can use them. “There are a lot of subtleties to this as we go deeper,” he said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler paid the DSTAC meeting a visit, thanking the group while also acknowledging that the task ahead won’t be easy.

“Congress gave us a non-trivial task that you all know so well,” he said. “We are under no allusions about the challenge that that mandate represents.”  

Is the notion of “black box” that can support video services from all forms of multichannel video programming distributors a discrete piece of new hardware or merely a metaphor for a more virtualized component or chip that can be embedded inside set-tops and other video devices?

That was one of many questions weighed Feb. 23 when the Federal Communications Commission-appointed Downloadable Security Technology advisory Committee (DSTAC) held their first meeting.

The group, comprised of 18 individuals from companies such as Dish Network, Amazon, Comcast, Charter Communications, TiVo and Google, is tasked with investigating the successor to the CableCard, a removable security module that failed to create a vibrant retail market for cable-ready retail video devices, and file its recommenations by September 4.

The committee is tackling the idea of a uniform solution even as other MVPDs, including Charter and Cablevision Systems, have already developed and deployed downloadable security systems. Comcast and TiVo, meanwhile, are also pursuing a non-CableCard solution.

The initial meeting focused on the scope of the report, including which types of navigation devices and types of content and services -- including linear TV and on-demand video -- should fit inside it.

The notion of an all-MVPD “black box” outfitted with downloadable security dominated the early discussions, though what form it will take remains an item that still needs to be clearly defined.

Talks gravitated toward a virtual module or even a chip that can support the baseline input and output requirements of pay-TV operators. That could end up spanning elements such as service discovery, channel tuning/content requests, emergency alert system information, closed captioning data, copy control information, subscriber authentication, and the audio and video streams themselves.

There are already factions forming on what this black box shouldn’t be.

Joe Weber, the chief technology officer for TiVo’s Service Provider Business Unit, warned that it would not be feasible for a retail CE company to support a multitude of separate devices that sits between it and the retail device from a wide range of MVPDs  

Concerns were also raised that adding yet another power-sucking device to the mix runs counter to the desire to lessen the pay TV industry’s already sizable carbon footprint.

Alan Messer, vice president of advanced technology for Samsung’s Advanced Technology Lab, expressed some uneasiness about a so-called black box taking the form of a new chip, noting that it could significantly raise the materials costs for makers of TVs, DVRs and other retail video devices. Such a chip "might not be the right mindset,” he argued. 

Also up for debate is whether over-the-top services should be considered in the committee’s upcoming report, which is being researched as the FCC shoots for new rules that will would define some online video providers as MVPDs, at least with respect to access to cable and broadcast TV programming.

Mark Hess, SVP, office of the CTO, business and industry affairs at Comcast Cable, suggested that it will be difficult to exclude OTT from the discussion in a meaningful way given the current state of the video marketplace.

“It is an error to ignore it,” agreed Kenneth Lowe, vice president and co-founder of TV maker  Vizio.

The process will also prove to be a challenge for MVPDs, such as satellite TV operators, that were not required to adhere to the original separable security rules. Dish Network, for example, is inherently a one-way, downstream-only platform. While its boxes do use broadband connections for upstream communications, they are out of Dish’s control and, therefore, not something that is fully reliable or secure.

“DBS is going to be the problem child here and bring in some unusual challenges,” Card warned.

While some on the committee are pushing for a successor that’s based on IP-based transport, others warned that MVPDs are not migrating there in lock-step.

“Not all operators move at the same timeframes,” Milo Medin, vice president of access services at Google, said. The challenge, he added, is to focus on solution that succeeds the CableARD “without a multi-year gap.”

Another concern is whether metadata will be included in the downloadable security platform.  Hess pointed out that MSOs such as Comcast strike separate deals for metadata and the rights on how they can use them. “There are a lot of subtleties to this as we go deeper,” he said.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler paid the DSTAC meeting a visit, thanking the group while also acknowledging that the task ahead won’t be easy.

“Congress gave us a non-trivial task that you all know so well,” he said. “We are under no allusions about the challenge that that mandate represents.”

The first meeting of an FCC-appointed committee that will explore a potential successor to the CableCARD got underway Monday (February 23), with much of the discussion centering on the notion of an all-MVPD “black box” and whether OTT video service providers should be included within the scope of the discussion.

That group, called the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), is comprised of 18 members and includes execs from Dish Network, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Amazon, Google, TiVo and Evolution Digital.  The committee was formed after the passing of the STELAR Act in December 2014, which will sunset the current integration ban this December and calls on the FCC to pursue a downloadable alternative. The DSTAC is tasked with filing a report of its findings and recommendations to the FCC by September 4.

Monday’s meeting has so far focused on the scope of the report, including which types of navigation devices and the types of content and services – including linear TV and on-demand video -- should fit inside it.

The notion of a “black box” outfitted with downloadable security dominated the early discussion, though what exactly that will entail is not yet clearly defined. But the general idea for it seems to be focused on a virtual module of sorts or a chip that can support the baseline input and output requirements of pay-TV operators. That could end up spanning elements such as service discovery, channel tuning/content requests, emergency alert system information, closed captioning data, copy control information, subscriber authentication/provisioning, and the audio and video streams themselves.

What technical shape that black box takes is an early part of the debate. Joe Weber, CTO for TiVo’s Service Provider Business Unit, for example, warned that it would not be feasible for there to be a separate box that sits between it and the retail device from a wide range of MVPDs. 

Alan Messer, VP, advanced technology for Samsung’s Advanced Technology Lab, also raised concerns about this black box taking the form of a new chip, noting that it could significantly raise the bill of material (BOM) costs for TVs, DVRs and other retail video devices. Such a chip "might not be the right mindset,” he argued. 

Also up for debate is whether OTT services should be considered in the coming report, even as the FCC moves ahead with a new rulemaking effort that will look define some online video providers (OVDs) as MVPDS, at least with respect to access to cable and broadcast TV programming.

Mark Hess, SVP, office of the CTO, business and industry affairs at Comcast Cable,  suggested that it will be difficult to exclude OTT from the discussion in a meaningful way given the current state of the video marketplace.

“It is an error to ignore it,” agreed Kenneth Lowe, VP and co-founder of Vizio.

The first step toward the development of a successor to the much-maligned CableCARD will have to wait.

A winter storm that dropped about four inches of snow in the Washington, D.C., area has caused the U.S. government to close all federal offices in the area on Tuesday, a move that also cancelled what was to be the first meeting of an FCC-appointed committee tasked with exploring and making recommendations for a “platform-neutral, software-based” downloadable security system aimed at replacing the CableCARD and promoting the competitive availability of set-tops and other MVPD-compatible  video devices. 

That group, called the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), was scheduled to hold its first meeting today at 10 a.m. ET.

An FCC official confirmed that the meeting was indeed cancelled and that a new date for that meeting has not yet been decided. When the FCC announced it was seeking nominations for the DSTAC in December, it anticipated that the group would meet in Washington, D.C., for full-day meetings once per month, at least through September.  The committee must file a report with the Commission by September 4, 2015.

The FCC recently appointed a group of 18 execs and specialists from companies and organizations that include Comcast, Public Knowledge, AT&T, TiVo, Amazon, Evolution Digital and the Motion Picture Association of America.  The DSTAC was formed soon after the STELAR Act became law on Dec. 5, 2014, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year.

Last week, Beyond Broadband Technology (BBT), which is not on the committee, offered to give the DSTAC a “full technical briefing” on a downloadable security platform that has been developed by a cable-backed group that has historically been focused on smaller, independent MVPDs. 

Beyond Broadband Technology (BBT), the cable consortium that has developed a downloadable security platform for set-tops and other video devices, wasn’t asked to participate on an FCC-appointed committee that will start the pursuit of a successor the CableCARD, but it still wants its voice to be heard.

In a letter to that group – called the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee – on Friday (February 13), BBT CEO and CTO Bill Bauer proposed to give the DSTAC or any relevant sub-committee a “full technical briefing” so they can weigh and explore “the unique aspects and challenges in the development of a true ‘technology and platform neutral’ security system such as BBT's…”

BBT, which works primarily with small cable operators, sought but failed to secure spot on the DSTAC, which will hold its first meeting next Tuesday (February 17). The FCC recently appointed a group of 18 execs and specialists from companies and organizations that include Comcast, Public Knowledge, AT&T, TiVo, Amazon, Evolution Digital and the Motion Picture Association of America.

The DSTAC was formed soon after the STELAR Act became law on Dec. 5, 2014, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year. The DSTAC will help the FCC to identify and recommend  a “platform-neutral software-based downloadable security system”  aimed at promoting competitive availability of navigation devices – something that the CableCARD failed to do. The DSTAC must file a report with the Commission by September 4, 2015.

The BBT and the American Cable Association, meanwhile, have argued that the makeup of the committee underrepresents the interests of smaller, independent MVPDs.

Holding that no members of the current DSTAC committee have been fully briefed on the technical and security details of BBT’s technology, Bauer said the organization would be willing to share those security details “under appropriate safeguards, which are consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.”

Among the points made by Bauer in the letter, he stressed that any recommended technology should work with both one- and two-way transport platforms, since “at least a third or more” of the current MVPD universe delivers serves on unidirectional plant, and any selected approach should likewise be backwards compatible with legacy systems.

Update: To clarify that, BBT noted that the one-way issue involves not just the residual of older, smaller DBS systems, but also DBS and the possible addition of video platforms of digital broadcast channels. 

Bauer also identified what he sees as the “most difficult hurdle” for any cross-industry standard for software-downloadable security – the current prevalence of proprietary public/private key security schemes and the tricky aspects of indemnification – i.e. who’s on the hook if the system is cracked.

“An additional major stumbling block is the associated almost impossible expectation of indemnity,” Bauer wrote. “These intractable issues can be ameliorated by development of a system that does not require a ‘trusted authority’ and allows fully individualized, user controlled software data encryption and conditional access downloadability.”

Arguing that the notion of “unbreakable” security is pure fantasy, Bauer also suggested that the DSTAC should favor technologies that are “nimble and recoverable” and support a design that keeps the “threat targets” small, versus one that would face industry- or nationwide vulnerabilities.

With the end of the CableCard regime a foregone conclusion, the Federal Communications Commission is moving rapidly on a plan to seek out a more elegant, and hopefully less expensive, downloadable approach to removable security for set-top boxes and other types video devices that could be sold at retail.

This time around, the aim is higher. Rather than targeting just cable operators, the FCC plans an approach thant could be applied to other types of multichannel video programming distributors.

The FCC is tackling this task following the passage last December of the STELAR Act, which activated a provision that will sunset after a year the regulator’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security. The act calls on the agency to seek out a successor.

The FCC’s first move was to form the Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee (DSTAC). The DSTAC, announced Jan. 28, is made up of 18 members, including executives from Comcast, Amazon, Google, Dish Network and TiVo (see sidebar).

The DSTAC’s role is to identify, report and recommend technologies and standards that can result in a uniform and technology-neutral, software-based downloadable security system that is “not unduly burdensome” and to stoke competition for navigation devices, including set-tops and televisions. The first of DSTAC meetings is set for Tuesday, Feb. 17. The DSTAC is directed to file a report with the FCC by Sept. 4.

Heading into that process, some are concerned the FCC has already travelled this route with the CableCard, which fell well short of its objectives, creating a regime that became a costly distraction for the cable industry.

Despite its present ambitious intentions, the FCC is also faced with the fact that several MVPDs are already pushing ahead with disparate non-CableCard approaches, which could make coming up with an all-encompassing solution a significant challenge for the commission.

The CableCard failed to spark a robust market for cable-ready retail devices, and the numbers continue to show it. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, in its latest report on the topic to the FCC, said the nation’s top nine incumbent cable operators have deployed more than 51.5 million CableCards in MSO-supplied set-top boxes versus 620,000 of the security modules in retail- bought devices such as TiVo DVRs.

INDIE CONCERNS

A big question as the committee meetings get underway is how much influence the nation’s independent cable operators will have in the proceeding. The American Cable Association, which represents the interests of smaller cable operators, was concerned about the committee’s lack of representation from independent operators.

“We were hopeful that the FCC would recognize the value of having a smaller cable operator participate on the committee — after all, there will be hundreds of operators that may have to live with the decisions of this committee,” Ted Hearn, the ACA’s vice president of communications, said in a statement to Multichannel News. “We are hopeful that the committee will now work in a transparent manner, giving parties not serving on the committee, particularly smaller cable operators, an informal opportunity to participate and shape the committee’s final report.”

Securing a Spot

Here’s who’s been appointed to the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee:

• Ahmad Ansari, Director of New Product Development, AT&T Labs;

• Brant Candelore, Senior Staff Member, Sony Electronics;

• John Card II, Director of Standards and Technology, EchoStar Technologies, LLC (Dish Network);

• Matthew Clark, Principal, Business Development Digital Products, Amazon;

• Bob Clyne, Senior VP of Engineering and New Technologies, Cablevision Systems;

• Adam Goldberg, Principal, AGP, LLC/Public Knowledge;

• Mark Hess, Senior VP, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Business and Industry Affairs, Comcast Cable;

• Brad Love, Chief Technologist, Hauppauge Computer Works;

• Kenneth Lowe, VP and Co-Founder, Vizio;

• John McCoskey, EVP, Global Policy and External Affairs, Motion Picture Association of America;

• Bruce McClelland, President, Network & Cloud and Global Services, Arris;

• Milo Medin, VP, Access Services, Google;

• Alan Messer, VP, Advanced Technology, Samsung’s Advanced Technology Lab;

• Jay Rolls, Senior VP and CTO, Charter Communications;

• Simha Sethumadhavan, Associate Professor of Computer Science & Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Columbia University;

• Brent Smith, President and CTO, Evolution Digital;

• Joseph Weber, Chief Technical Officer, Service Provider business unit, TiVo;

• Robin Wilson, VP, Business Development, Nagra.

Cheryl Tritt of Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer will serve as chair of the DSTAC. Brendan Murray and Nancy Murphy of the FCC’s Media Bureau will serve as its Designated Federal Officer and Alternate Designated Federal Officer, respectively.

Because we’re still keeping score as the CableCARD regime heads toward its end, the number of removable security modules deployed in MSO-supplied set-tops by the top nine incumbent cable operators has eclipsed 51.5 million, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said in its latest report to the FCC.

By comparison, the number of CableCARDs currently deployed by those MSOs for use in  retail-bought video devices such as TiVo boxes and integrated HDTVs was just under 620,000.

The NCTA’s previous report, issued last October, found that those same operators had deployed about 50 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied boxes, and 623,000 modules in retail devices.

The FCC ban on integrated security set-tops took effect on July 1, 2007, but the CableCARD regime as the industry it is in the processing of fading away amid the passing of the STELAR Act, which became law late last year, activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on integrated security set-tops after a year.

In STELAR’s wake, the FCC is now tasked with pursuing a successor to the CableCARD that will focus on downloadable security and removable systems that would apply to a broader range of MVPDs, not just cable operators.

Toward that end, the FCC last week appointed 18 members, including execs from Comcast, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, TiVo, Amazon and Google, to a new group called the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) that will give the FCC a hand. The DSTAC’s first of several monthly meeting is slated for Feb. 17, 2015, at FCC headquarters. The committee must file a report with the Commission detailing its findings by Sept. 4, 2015.

The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday announced the appointment of 18 members to a new committee that will help the agency pursue a successor the CableCARD.

That group, called the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC), is comprised of 18 members (Multichannel News identified most of the companies and organizations last week as the FCC was finalizing its list):

-Dr. Ahmad Ansari, Director of New Product Development, AT&T Labs;

-Brant Candelore, Senior Staff Member, Sony Electronics;

-John Card II, Director of Standards and Technology, EchoStar Technologies, LLC (Dish Network);

-Matthew Clark, Principal, Business Development Digital Products, Amazon;

-Bob Clyne, Senior Vice President of Engineering and New Technologies, Cablevision Systems;

-Adam Goldberg, Principal, AGP, LLC/Public Knowledge;

-Mark Hess, Senior Vice President, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, Business and Industry Affairs, Comcast Cable;

-Brad Love, Chief Technologist, Hauppauge;

-Kenneth Lowe, VP and Co-Founder, Vizio;

-John McCoskey, EVP, Global Policy and External Affairs, Motion Picture Association of America;

-Bruce McClelland, President of Network and Cloud & Global Services, Arris;

-Milo Medin, Vice President of Access Services, Google;

-Alan Messer, Vice President, Advanced Technology, Samsung’s Advanced Technology Lab;

-Jay Rolls, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Charter Communications;

-Simha Sethumadhavan, Associate Professor of Computer Science & Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, Columbia University;

-Brent Smith, President and CTO, Evolution Digital;

-Dr. Joseph Weber, Chief Technical Officer for the Service Provider Business Unit, TiVo; and

-Robin Wilson, Vice President, Business Development, Nagra.

Cheryl Tritt of Wilkinson, Barker, Knauer will serve as chair of the DSTAC. Brendan Murray and Nancy Murphy will serve as the Designated Federal Officer and Alternate Designated Federal Officer, respectively, of the DSTAC, according to the FCC. 

The DSTAC is forming following the STELAR Act, which became law late last year, thus activating a provision that will sunset the FCC’s current ban on set-tops with integrated security after a year. Separable security has largely been handled by the CableCARD, a security module for set-tops and TVs that failed to create a vibrant retail market for cable-ready video devices.

The Act directs the DSTAC “to identify, report, and recommend performance objectives, technical capabilities, and technical standards of a not unduly burdensome, uniform, and technology- and platform-neutral software-based downloadable security system” to promote the competitive availability of navigation devices (set-top boxes and television sets, etc.). The DSTAC must file a report with the Commission by September 4, 2015 to detail its findings and recommendations.   

DSTAC meetings will be open to the general public. The first meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, at FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Beyond Broadband Technology (BBT), a consortium founded by small cable operators that has developed a downloadable security system, wanted to be part of the committee but did not make the cut. It had urged the FCC to reconsider over concerns that smaller operators would not be represented properly and arguing that the technical expertise of BBT chief technology officer Bill Bauer would bring value to the group. 

John Carlucci has been appointed to the newly created post of president of Alticast North America, and will retain his duties as the company’s chief technology officer, the company confirmed to Multichannel News.

Carlucci, an engineer who is late of Clearleap, Time Warner Cable and a cable-backed downloadable video security J.V. called PolyCipher, joined Alticast, a video software and integration specialist, in 2012.

As CTO, Carlucci, who has more than 20 patents to his name, has been heading the development of  Alticast’s product development.

Of recent note, Alticast used the recent International CES to demonstrate AltiProtect, billing the cloud-based, renewable approach to media security as an alternative to the CableCARD. Such a solutions could play a role in the U.S. market as the CableCARD regime for separable security in set-top boxes prepares to sunset following the recent passage of the satellite reauthorization bill. The FCC is now tasked with pursuing a successor platform. Alticast has also been developing HDMI Media Express, a set-top-on-a-stick that uses the Reference Design Kit, the preintegrated software bundle for IP and hybrid devices that’s being managed by Comcast, Time  Warner Cable and Liberty Global. In a demo last year, Alticast showed the device running both RDK and Android.

Alticast is based in South Korea, but operates its U.S. operations out of Broomfield, Colo.

At TWC, Carlucci was a key contributor to the development of services such as Start Over and the MSO’s switched digital video platform. 

Updated: Alticast announced promotion on Tuesday with this statement from Alticast CEO Won Cheol Kang: “John was the obvious choice when we decided to create the position of President. His experience, track record of success and outstanding technical expertise make him ideal to serve both as President and CTO and to drive Alticast to even greater achievements.” 

In its latest CableCARD report to the FCC, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said the nine largest incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed more than 50 million of the security modules in MSO-supplied set-tops since the security integration ban took effect in July 2007. In comparison, those same operators have deployed just 623,000 CableCARDs in retail devices, including TiVo boxes and TVs with CableCARD slots.

Its previous report issued in July, the NCTA said those MSOs had deployed 48 million modules in operator-supplied boxes, and 620,000 in retail devices.

The NCTA used the latest report as an opportunity to post a blog reiterating its position that common reliance on the technology has been achieved and the FCC should end the integration ban, noting that the modules have cost consumers north of $1 billion in “unnecessary costs and waste 500 million kilowatts of energy each year.”

“So this rule isn’t protecting third party device makers, it’s really just a burden on cable providers and customers,” the NCTA argues.

TiVo sees it differently, and has argued that the mandate should stand in part to ensure that retail boxes can get access to the same services and features that leased boxes provide. TiVo, meanwhile, has struck an agreement with Comcast to develop a non-CableCARD retail set-top solution, with Comcast also agreeing to provide and support CableCARDs in retail device notwithstanding the D.C. Circuit’s EchoStar decision last year that vacated certain CableCARD rules.

A provision in the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act seeks to eliminate the FCC’s integration ban, though it would aim to retain the FCC’s power to reinstate the ban on any successor to the CableCARD regime.

Public Knowledge, meanwhile, recently kicked off a Twitter campaign as it seeks to get the integration ban back into the bill before its must-passage by the end of the year.

TiVo took its turn at the FCC to argue for a proposed waiver or a clarification on rules that the CE company use a standardized home networking interface on products supplied wholesale to cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

TiVo’s latest round of comments, filed amid others on the matter from the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) and the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), landed a few weeks after Verizon Communications urged the FCC to “seize the opportunity” to waive all tech mandates tied to set-tops and other navigation devices that are distributed to MVPDs. Verizon also argued that market-based solutions are being developed and implemented by MVPDs and the CE industry.

TiVo countered in part that Verizon’s request “is overly broad and far beyond the scope of this limited proceeding,” and that while MVPDs do make some cable content available on certain retail devices, those efforts still fall short of the competition envisioned by the current rules, which ban the use of integrated set-top security.

TiVo, which counts RCN, Suddenlink Communications and Mediacom Communications among its MVPD partners, claimed that denying the waiver would “also harm the small and mid-sized cable operators who lack the economies of scale to fund the development of high end set-top boxes and rely on TiVo products and services, developed originally for the retail marketplace, to enable them to provide a superior DVR solution to their subscribers.”

TiVo filed the petition on August 29, acknowledging that TiVo products leased by MSOs don’t support “all elements of an open industry standard as that term has been defined by the Commission, and thus does not meet the letter of the rule.” It also argued that strict compliance of the rule would harm smaller cable operators that use TiVo products, that it would serve no public interests, and would be “extremely expensive” for TiVo given its historic investments.

TiVo also said that it had to work ahead of the DLNA, which released the CVP-2 guidelines in March, and followed in September with the debut of the “VidiPath” brand and a certification  program -- initiatives that will provide a secure, in-home IP networking path that will allow MVPDs to deliver subscription TV content (and bridge their user interfaces and navigation systems) to VidiPath-certified retail CE products such as set-tops, gaming consoles and streaming devices.

The DLNA weighed in with its own comments, telling the FCC that it should refrain from granting TiVo a permanent or temporary waiver because the VidiPath Guidelines “have been available for long enough to enable implementation.” Further, it put forth the claim that recently announced direct-to-consumer IP-delivered services from HBO and CBS “could be enabled by VidiPath.”

The NCTA, in its comments, called on the FCC to clarify whether a ruling by the D.C. court last year that vacated the 2003 Plug-and-Play order (EchoStar Satellite vs. FCC) also vacated the HD set-top box output rule in question. If that’s the case, the NCTA said, the TiVo request for waiver would be moot.

“TiVo’s petition is a good illustration of how ill-suited the constraints of the HD set-top box output rule are to today’s market,” the NCTA said, noting that the rule ties back to a mandate that all HD boxes include an IEEE 1394 digital connector (also known as FireWire), which the market has since rejected in favor of Ethernet and HDMI. The FCC doused the FireWire requirement in June 2010, so long as boxes provide alternative access to content over IP home networks.

The NCTA also pointed out that the HD box output rule is outdated in that it doesn’t reflect how cable video is consumed. Once locked to the set-top box, that content is now delivered through apps to mobile devices, connected TVs, PCs, gaming consoles and other devices, the  NCTA said.

“The better approach is for the Commission to confirm that Section 76.640(b)(4) no longer applies and allow the market to deliver diverse solutions,” NCTA said.

Echoing of another Verizon view, the NCTA said that if the FCC does decide that the HD set-top box output rule does still apply, the Commission should grant a waiver or any extension of the compliance deadline to the entire industry, and not exclusively to TiVo.

As it’s been since the summer of 2007, the number of CableCARDs deployed in MSO-leased boxes continues to extend its lead on security modules deployed in TiVo boxes, TVs and other video devices with CableCARD slots sold at retail.

The NCTA’s latest report, issued Thursday, said that the nine largest incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed 48 million CableCARDs in MSO-supplied set-tops since the set-top security integration ban took effect in July 2007, In comparison, those same MSOs reported having deployed more than 620,000 CableCARDs in retail devices.

That compares to 47 million modules in leased boxes and 616,000 in retail boxes when the NCTA reported these figures in May.

The latest numbers are coming out as the debate on whether the integration ban should continue, with the NCTA and cable operators pushing for it to end now that common reliance has been established, while TiVo argues that it should stay in place in part to ensure that retail boxes can get access to the same services and features that leased boxes provide.

Against this backdrop, the Senate is preparing to consider reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, which has already passed through the House and includes a provision lifting the security ban. Today, NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell urged the Senate to keep that portion of the bill in place and to reject TiVo’s argument.

Among other recent action, TiVo and Comcast struck an agreement to develop a non-CableCARD retail set-top solution, with Comcast also agreeing to provide and support CableCARDs in retail device notwithstanding the D.C. Circuit’s EchoStar decision last year that vacated certain CableCARD rules, which raised questions about cable’s ongoing obligations to support consumer access to the removable security modules. While TiVo wants the ban to stay in place, the company has also acknowledged that commercial agreements are likely the path forward as cable seeks new non-CableCARD solutions, but also believes that more MVPDs need to step up.

The commercial agreement between Comcast and TiVo announced last week outlined big ambitions, but provided little in terms of how they intend to execute on a plan to help TiVo boxes bought at retail gain access to Comcast’s full suite of subscription video services without a clunky CableCARD.

TiVo is leaving the sharing of those details to Comcast, and Comcast says it’s “premature” to provide them at this time. After speaking to some parties with knowledge on how they might tackle this one (with FCC waivers and other potential regulatory requirements notwithstanding) here are just three possible options:

-To develop a new, proprietary downloadable security system for an all-IP video product. While Comcast is already delivering a full linear IP simulcast for its Xfinity On Campus product, that rollout is limited and small in scale. It’s not known when Comcast would be ready to pull that off on a massive scale, but it's not expected to occur anytime soon.

- Combine a version of security used today for Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs) with an IP-based video security system that could be used in hybrid (QAM/IP) TiVo boxes sold at retail. The idea would be to use DTA security, which is already deployed on a broad basis, to secure linear QAM video, and use downloadable security on the IP side for VOD and other video services that can be delivered over IP. The good news is that DTA security works, as it’s in use on tens of millions of devices. So-called “universal” DTAs work on digital cable networks based on the Arris/Motorola or Cisco Systems platforms, which is another plus. But the approach might be tricky to implement in boxes with DVR functionality due to the limitations of the current FCC ban on set-tops with integrated security.

-A new interoperable, downloadable conditional access system that works with the legacy security systems. But one industry source views this possible path as an “outlier” that’s fraught with legal and contractual issues, because it would likely require full support from Cisco and Arris.

Among those options, the DTA-focused option could resonate the most, a source said, because it’s already capable of descrambling basic, expanded basic and premium linear content, and it’s already been proven to work on Arris and Motorola systems. In a hybrid model, it wouldn’t be overly difficult to pair DTA security for linear with IP-based security for IP-VOD and, potentially, other third-party OTT services. That sort of combination would also allow a gradual migration to IP video (after all, QAM video won’t fade into history for many years) without worrying about having to execute a flash-cut to an all-IP based video security system.

And we’ve already seen some action in this area in recent years. In 2012, Comcast and Boxee announced an agreement that would let users of Boxee devices access the MSO’s encrypted programming via one of two ways – through a short-term fix that would pair the Boxee box to an Ethernet-connected DTA; and a long-term, licensed-based “Integrated DTA” approach that would enable Boxee to access encrypted basic tier channels without the need for a separate MSO-supplied DTA or set-top box. Not much progress has been reported about the long-term approach since Samsung acquired Boxee last July. In the meantime, Samsung has since launched a retail-focused, CableCARD-based device of its own called the Smart Video Player.

Again, these are just three possible options. It will be up to Comcast, as well as TiVo and other partners, to noodle it. But, as one industry source who is familiar with cable’s legacy and next-gen video security ambitions, “there is no magic bullet” for a post-CableCARD world.

TiVo, once a burr in cable’s saddle when it came to next-gen video security, has been restored to an ally in the industry’s pursuit of a successor to the much-maligned CableCARD without further government intervention. But make no mistake -- the company wants the current CableCARD rules to remain until a next-gen solution is available for video devices sold at retail.

That much is apparent following this week’s revelation of a commercial agreement between TiVo and Comcast that will include the development of a new, non-CableCARD approach to video security that will enable retail-bought TiVo devices to gain access to the MSO’s full suite of video products, including linear TV and video-on-demand.

Under that same agreement, Comcast has also committed to continue providing and supporting CableCARDs in retail devices, a move that gives TiVo assurances that there won’t be a gap between the legacy and future way its devices will be able to obtain that content securely.

TiVo isn’t providing details on any similar discussions it has underway with other MVPDs (Charter Communications’ ongoing downloadable video security effort also has retail aspirations, for example), but the company believes that more direct cooperation between it and MVPDs now presents the smoothest path toward the post-CableCARD era.

“As evidenced by this agreement, our view is that commercial agreements are most likely to be the path going forward,” Jeff Klugman, TiVo’s executive vice president and general manager of products and revenue, said. “We’ve found that, as long as we have access to signal, however it comes, that’s really what’s important to supporting our business going forward. And not just for our business – for the business of other retail devices.”

That view, at least with respect on how things should progress with respect to next-gen approaches marks a bit of a change. TiVo, along with Best Buy, Intel, Google, Nagra, Radio Shack, and Sony, was an early member of the AllVid Tech Company Alliance, a group formed in 2011 that has been urging the FCC to move ahead on a new rule-making effort that would produce a successor to the CableCARD that could be applied not just to cable, but to all MVPDs. TiVo confirmed that it has withdrawn from that group and that it is working with operators on next-generation solutions. The company also reiterated that it believes the integration ban is important until a post-CableCARD solution is available for retail devices. The agreement with Comcast is a step toward that, but TiVo will want other operators to follow suit.

Meanwhile, the cable industry, including the National Cable & Telecommunications Commission, has asked the FCC to abolish the current set-top integration rules altogether because common reliance of the CableCARD is now established. Cable is also of the belief that market forces, rather than a new set of rules as envisioned by AllVid, should determine the course forward.

Officials for the AllVid group have not yet commented on the Comcast-TiVo agreement, which did receive praise from Anna Eshoo (D-Calif), the ranking member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Klugman points out that the work with Comcast isn’t just about TiVo, as the MSO intends to license the technology to other MVPDs and CE companies. But he also acknowledged that it’s not a cross-industry standard, either.

“We’d love to see it broadly adopted, and if that meant it became a de facto standard at some point in time because it was the most commercially-adopted, that would be a great thing. But we’re happy to let the market drive that,” Klugman said.

Comcast isn’t providing any technical detail on its ideas for a non-CableCARD solution, noting that it’s still “premature” to provide that information.

Klugman said TiVo isn’t in position to provide details, either, but believes the outcome of that work will provide the customer with an approach that is “far superior” to having to use a physical devices such as the CableCARD.

“How the conditional access gets…to the box is really for them [Comcast] still to decide,” Klugman said, though he expects that TiVo will be providing guidance and input as Comcast develops the technology. “They want it to work. For that solution to work, they’ll have to engage us…early and frequently.”

Timing on when Comcast’s non-CableCARD approach will be ready for prime time hasn’t been disclosed, but that solution and the legacy CableCARD platform “will run in tandem for some reasonably long period of time to ensure that there’s no gap,” Klugman said.

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.

An FCC waiver that granted Adams Cable Equipment (ACE) permission to sell refurbished set-top boxes with integrated security has not yet come close to the supplier’s 50,000-unit limit.

According to a report filed with the FCC on July 3, ACE said as of June 30 it had sold 850 integrated set-top boxes at wholesale to participating cable operators and just 202 integrated boxes to retail customers of those cable operators.

ACE said the retail set-tops were sold for an average price of $53.35, noting that it recently lowered prices in an attempt to boost retail sales. It currently lists the standard-definition only Motorola DCT-2000 model (pictured above) for $29; the DCT-6200 HD box for $39; the digital-only/SD DCT-700 model for $89; and two HD/DVRs (the DCT-6412 and DCT-6416) with integrated security for $89 and $199, respectively.

The FCC granted the waiver last July, giving ACE the ability to sidestep the Commission’s 2007 integrated set-top security ban for up to 50,000 refurbished set-tops in ACE’s inventory. ACE successfully argued to the FCC that selling refurbished integrated security boxes would give cable operators an alternative to using one-way Digital Transport Adapters, which are not subject to the ban, to facilitate their all-digital transitions. ACE has since petitioned the FCC to expand the waiver to cover up to 200,000 older boxes with baked in security.

ACE acknowledged that it was tardy in providing this batch of data to the FCC. The Commission’s waiver order required ACE to submit an initial report within six months and ten days of the first sale of integrated boxes made based upon the waiver. ACE said it made its first sale pursuant to the waiver in August 2013, meaning it should have filed the report in February 2014. “ACE sincerely regrets its oversight in failing to submit a timely report,” the company told the FCC. “ACE moves that its second  report include data through December 31, 2014 and be submitted no later than Monday, January 12, 2015.”

ACE likewise said the current results back up its original argument that there’s “no countervailing harm to the public interest” to the waiver, “as the small scale of these sales poses no threat to the cable industry’s common reliance on CableCARDs. Therefore, the waiver should not be terminated and ACE should be permitted to continue its experiment in this new means of providing navigation devices to consumers.”

The FCC originally implemented the ban to spur a retail market for set-tops using separable security, notably via the CableCARD security module. But the numbers clearly show that the CableCARD has failed to produce a sizable market for retail cable set-tops and cable-ready TVs.

According to the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s latest report on the topic, the nation’s top nine incumbent cable operators have deployed more than 47 million MSO-supplied set-tops with CableCARDs, and just over 616,000 CableCARDs for use in retail devices, such as TiVo DVRs.

The NCTA has repeatedly called on 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.

Additionally, the Senate Judiciary Committee recently marked up and passed a version of legislation reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), now being called the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act of 2014 (STARA), that 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.

The nation’s top nine incumbent cable operators have deployed more than 47 million MSO-supplied set-tops with CableCARDs, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association told the FCC in a report filed Friday (May 9). That’s up from about 45 million when the NCTA filed its FCC report in late January.

The number of CableCARDs deployed in leased devices continues to dwarf the number of modules used in devices with CableCARD slots sold at retail, including TiVo DVRs and a  limited number of HDTV models. In its latest report, the NCTA said the nine largest U.S. MSOs have deployed over 616,000 CableCARDs for use in retail devices, just 10,000 more than the 606,000 reported in January.

The NCTA has been issuing these CableCARD deployment updates regularly since the FCC-mandated integrated set-top security ban took effect July 1, 2007.

The NCTA has repeatedly called on 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.

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.

The proposed bill or CableCARD provision in the STELA action would clear cable operators to deploy devices with integrated security, though the cable industry has pledged to continue supporting retail CableCARD devices. TiVo, meanwhile, remains highly dependent on CableCARDs for the delivery of linear cable digital TV services, and is seeking to preserve those rules over fears that an elimination of the ban would put it and its products at a significant disadvantage.

TiVo isn't the only retailer with skin in the CableCARD game. Last fall, Samsung launched a retail CableCARD device called the Smart Media Player that supports digital cable TV services over QAM and over-the-top apps from Netflix, VUDU, and Amazon Instant Video, among others.

The AllVid Tech Company Alliance, meanwhile, continues to urge the FCC to introduce a rulemaking effort that would produce a successor to the CableCARD that could be applied to all forms of multichannel channel video distributors, not just cable operators