Cablevision attorneys urged the FCC not to impose hardware requirements...
Cablevision attorneys urged the FCC not to impose hardware requirements on cable operators that operate all-digital systems and wish to encrypt their basic service tier, an ex parte filing shows (http://xrl.us/bndphf). Cablevision has encrypted its basic tier under an FCC…
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waiver, and an order that would let other cable operators follow suit was held up after Boxee raised concerns about the ability of basic service customers to access the signals through third-party devices. A proposal from Boxee and Comcast urged an interim solution of Comcast providing a “digital transport adapter” with an Ethernet connection that would allow Boxee’s device to receive the signals. “Cablevision urges the Commission not to pursue additional hardware requirements as a precondition to encrypting the basic service tier,” the notice said. “Further requirements to design and support legacy devices would be a step backward for both operators and consumers, as they seek to enjoy more services on more devices without set top boxes,” the notice said. Already, companies such as Cablevision are delivering video services to new devices without hardware requirements, it said. “These devices -- supporting a variety of operating systems including iOS, Android, Mac OS and Windows -- are largely already capable of downloading and running operator-supplied, secure ‘apps’ that access programming content,” it said. “Other, nonstandard devices can either use a CableCARD or use our downloadable security to get access to secure content."