Cable Backs Principles for Letting Subscribers Buy Video Devices

Cable operators support seven principles to let subscribers buy video devices from retailers that could connect to any pay-TV provider’s service, NCTA President Kyle McSlarrow said Friday. The plan could be the base for FCC inter-industry efforts on retail video devices, he wrote Chairman Julius Genachowski at http://xrl.us/bgyb38. The National Broadband Plan will recommend a move toward so-called gateway set-top boxes (CED Feb 22 p7). CEA said the principles are “good."

"Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access their multichannel provider’s video services without a set-top box supplied by that provider,” said the first principle. “Consumers should also have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access any multichannel provider’s video services through an interface solution offered by that provider,” read the second. Subscribers also should be able to get online video through their devices from their pay-TV provider and from retailers.

McSlarrow offered some caveats in the last principle. “These principles should be embraced by all video providers, implemented flexibly to accommodate different network architectures and diverse equipment options, and, to the maximum extent possible, serve as the basis for private sector solutions” and not regulation, he wrote. It’s also important to be flexible by allowing set-back boxes, gateways, network interface devices or delivery of content stored in the “cloud” without the need for a dedicated receiving device, he added.

CEA believes the plan resembles what it’s sought for years, a spokeswoman said. “We hope that the words in this letter will be marked by a change in the 14-year cable industry policy of blocking implementation of the law requiring cable box availability at retail,” she continued. “We suspect that this reversal in position stems more from the fact that the FCC is tired of the cable industry empty promises and is ready to follow” Telecom Act mandates blocked by operators but which they now “suddenly embrace.”