CEA kept up its campaign for FCC to take immediate action to crea...
CEA kept up its campaign for FCC to take immediate action to create competitive retail market for digital cable set-top boxes. In its 2nd 6-month update to Commission on outstanding DTV-cable compatibility issues, CEA called on agency to force…
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cable MSOs to “invest wholly in open standards for system upgrades,” make MSOs “use the same technologies as those made available to competitive entrants” and curb “the anticonsumer and anticompetitive provisions” of cable industry’s POD-Host Interface (PHI) license for copy protection technology. CE group also urged Commission to insure that cable industry “provides expeditious solutions to allow competitive products to access video-on-demand, pay-per-view and other advanced services.” CEA, which must provide status reports on DTV-cable issues along with NCTA, complained that last 6 months “have seen too-slow progress on the standards needed to ensure compatibility between digital cable systems and digital television receivers.” Despite technical agreements signed with NCTA in Feb. 2000, CEA charged that cable industry had dragged its heels in implementing standards and had shown “continued preference for proprietary technologies” that frustrated consumer choice. “Even when the standards that are now being developed are completed, there will remain significant obstacles to achieving compatible operation of digital cable systems and digital television receivers and home recording equipment,” CEA said.