The top nine incumbent U.S. cable operators have deployed more than 45 Million MSO-supplied set-tops outfitted with CableCARDs, while just 606,000 security modules are used in TiVo boxes, TVs and other retail devices that contain CableCARD slots, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) told the FCC in a report filed Friday (January 31).
That’s up from the 44 million CableCARDs in MSO-leased boxes and 600,000 in retail devices reported last November by the NCTA, which has been issuing these 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-Texas) 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.
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