The FCC should grant cable operators that use TiVo set-top...

The FCC should grant cable operators that use TiVo set-top boxes a waiver of the requirement that they must include “an industry-standard, interactive, and recordable home networking interface,” the company said in a waiver petition (http://bit.ly/1vJGlFR) posted Tuesday in docket 97-80. TiVo had successfully sought an extension for the deadline for set-tops to fulfill that requirement because the Digital Living Network Alliance had not released industry standards for the boxes on time (CED April 7 p8). “TiVo could not anticipate the precise outcomes of the DLNA process or the timing and content of published specifications, and had to develop its own home networking solution in order to maintain its role in providing innovative solutions to retail consumers,” TiVo’s petition said. If TiVo has to change its technology to fit the DLNA standard, it could “hinder TiVo’s ability to compete on both a retail and a wholesale level,” the company said. If the FCC takes the position that the home networking requirement was invalidated by the EchoStar decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, TiVo said, its petition would be moot.