DSTAC Report, Comments Could Be Step in Ending Set-Top Box Forced Rentals, Comptel Says

The end of being forced to rent a set-top cable or satellite box could be at hand, Comptel said Monday as the FCC Media Bureau said it sought comments on the Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee report submitted that day. "The FCC comment period marks the beginning of an effort to bring creative competition to the video device marketplace," Comptel CEO Chip Pickering said in a statement. "In an age where television consumers are cutting the cord and breaking the bundle, unlocking the box is an important step in the evolution of video and competition. The movement to free customers from the shackles of cable set-top boxes will open the door to consumer freedom and more competition." The deadline for comments in docket 15-64 is Oct. 8, with replies due Nov. 9, the Media Bureau said. The DSTAC report contains a pair of technical proposals on security for content flowing into set-top boxes, and two accompanying proposals on other aspects of the proposed systems such as navigation (see 1508280035). The CableCARD technology that was to be an alternative to renting a set-top box "has been beset by technical and logistical problems" like not being compatible with VOD and a lack of uniformity in CableCARDs, said Public Knowledge Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer, a DSTAC member, in a blog post Monday. While DSTAC was too split to make a single recommendation, both of "these approaches are inspired by technologies that have been used elsewhere," Bergmayer said. "The relevant question at this point isn't which of these proposals will work technically, but which of them will achieve the desired outcome: a market for devices that can access pay TV content," he wrote, saying that under the cable industry-backed proposal "third-party devices won’t be able to be significantly better than the cable-provider ones."