CableCARD’s Future ‘Front and Center’ in FCC Merger Reviews, Says TiVo CEO
The future of CableCARDs will among the issues “front and center” as the FCC weighs the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV mergers, said TiVo CEO Thomas Rogers said on an earnings call last week. TiVo’s views on Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV are “continuing to evolve,” Rogers said.
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TiVo remains “very much opposed” to legislation in the House that would end FCC authority to make cable operators use CableCARDs in their set-top boxes, Rogers said on the call. Under rules enacted in 2007, cable operators are required to add CableCARD slots to their set-tops to allow TiVo DVRs and other devices to tune into cable TV by authenticating its connection. The Consumer Choice in Video Devices Act, sponsored by Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, contends there’s no incentive for cable operators to make it more difficult to use third-party devices to access video programming. HR-3196 would bar any FCC rule or policy that prevents cable operators from deploying devices that perform conditional access and other functions in a single integrated product.
"There is legislation going through the House that is very much opposed by us in terms of how we believe it would deprive consumers of the kind of choice that they have when it comes to devices including smartphones, laptops and tablets, and TiVo DVRs and should not be on a different footing,” Rogers said. “Access to TV signals is key to having that footing. CableCARDs provide that access. Cable operators don’t want to use it in their own boxes, but they are saying they would continue to provide CableCARDs to retail boxes such as our own.” TiVo believes the Senate is “likely to have a very different view of what’s the right way to approach this important policy decision,” Rogers said.
Cable consultant Stephen Effros told us the issue of CableCARDs remains with Congress and has “no place” in FCC reviews of AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable. The reviews will cover only those companies involved, while the issue of CableCARDs covers the entire cable industry, said Effros, who works with Beyond Broadband Technology, which has said it developed a downloadable security product for cable operators. “CableCARDs are an industry standard and not a big company standard,” Effros said. “It’s much more likely Congress will deal with CableCARDs than the FCC, because Congress created the concept of retail sale of set-top boxes."
Netflix’s recent deals with four U.S. cable operators to make its video streaming service available through TiVo DVRs will give consumers a better understanding of the “basic proposition that we stand for” in tying together linear TV and over-the-top services, Rogers said. Netflix signed agreements with Atlantic Broadband, Grande Communications, RCN and Suddenlink in April and May. The U.S. pacts followed those Netflix signed with Liberty Global’s Virgin Media in the U.K. and Sweden’s Con Hem and Spain’s Ono. “It makes the proposition more understandable,” and will help “accelerate the growth of TiVo subs,” Rogers said.