Lobbying on the FCC’s stalled basic tier encryption proceeding continued...
Lobbying on the FCC’s stalled basic tier encryption proceeding continued last week after Comcast and Boxee presented a proposed compromise to the commission (CD June 29 p8). Attorneys for the NCTA, Time Warner Cable and Comcast met with Media Bureau…
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officials, the FCC’s chief technology officer and an adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to discuss the proceeding, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bndbp8). “We discussed potential technical solutions for enabling customers with IP-capable Clear QAM devices to access encrypted basic tier channels,” the notice said. “We also discussed the relationship of potential equipment-based technical solutions, such as digital transport adapters or set-top boxes with home-networking capability, to the consumer protection measure proposed in the rulemaking,” it said. Separately, an attorney for RCN urged an aide to Genachowski to “grant an interim waiver of the encryption ban upon release,” an ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bndbqg). “RCN has continued to be victimized by theft of service by broadband-only customers that could have been prevented through encryption during the year that its request for a waiver of the encryption ban has been on file,” it said. “RCN asks that it not be required to endure further preventable theft while a Commission order eliminating the encryption ban is published in the Federal Register and undergoes any necessary approvals pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act."