Three makers of consumer electronics that won’t get cable programming...

p7), Hauppauge Computer Works and Really Simple Software opposed scrambling in filings this week in docket 11-169 (http://xrl.us/bmshhy). Hauppauge again took issue with the environmental benefits cable operators point to, because clear QAM equipment used by that company, Boxee and Really Simple Software wouldn’t work without subscribers using other energy-consuming gear to get encrypted shows. “More cable boxes means more cost to consumers and increased energy consumption,” Hauppauge CEO Ken Plotkin wrote (http://xrl.us/bmshh4). “Instead of the customer waiting at home for an installation” as without encryption, “she must drive to a cable TV service center and wait there to pick up equipment,” he said. “Stops at homes by trucks already in the neighborhoods would be replaced by 2-way drives by consumers. Environmentally this is at best a wash.” Cable operators have pointed to reduced truckrolls as a way to cut carbon dioxide emissions, because scrambled video service could be activated and deactivated remotely. Using traps to prevent cable broadband subscribers from stealing video lets clear QAM devices get unencrypted programming, and saves energy, Plotkin said. “If cable TV operators would install an addressable RF trap at subscriber homes, they could enable or disable cable TV service remotely without requiring a truck roll. This would require the installation of an RF trap at each home where remote enable/disable of cable TV service is desired and could be installed at the time when service to a home was discontinued.” Traps could operate when the power goes out, so consumers could get clear QAM cable when the electricity is out, Plotkin wrote. “The addressable RF trap could be put in a S3 sleep mode, thereby reducing power consumption, waking up periodically to receive commands from the central office. Longer term, an addressable RF trap could be integrated into cable modems similar to the way in which telephone service is controlled through the cable modem box today.” Boxee CEO Avner Ronen and other executives told aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell that encryption would harm “consumers and device competition,” a filing said (http://xrl.us/bmshi3). It asked the agency to not move forward “until a comparable alternative is available, such as delivery of the basic tier over IP in a way that does not require additional hardware rental or cable operators’ consent in order to access the broadcast channels.” Really Simple Software’s Simple.TV, which attaches to DVRs and allows video to be streamed to Roku and Boxee devices, is “specially engineered” to “work with unencrypted Clear QAM basic cable,” the company said. “Eliminating unencrypted Clear QAM and requiring cable subscribers to rent industry-provided STBs to decode encrypted basic cable signals would adversely impact the market for Simple.TV, impair RSS’s business as well as the businesses of other companies offering innovative Clear QAM based products, and reduce the number of choices available to consumers.” The company reported (http://xrl.us/bmshjw) executives spoke with Chief Bill Lake and others in the front office of the Media Bureau, which is drafting the encryption order.