Boxee Expects FCC Basic-Tier Encryption Decision in Two Months
A battle pitting some hardware and service suppliers against a proposed FCC rule allowing cable operators to encrypt basic-tier programming could be resolved within two months, Andrew Kippen, Boxee vice president of marketing, told us Wednesday at the Streaming Media East conference in New York. The FCC first issued the proposed rule in the fall, and Boxee has been meeting weekly with FCC staff, members of Congress, NCTA and/or cable operators since becoming aware of it in December, Kippen said. Boxee, along with Hauppauge Computer Works and Really Simple Software, has opposed scrambling and sought a compromise (CD Feb 21 p6), Kippen said. Boxee initially expected an FCC decision by February, he said.
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"We are proposing different solutions and hoping to come to a compromise on what we think the future should be,” Kippen said. “We're fine with them encrypting everything, but we're saying other people should be able to decrypt and be certified without having to go through CableCARD certification."
Boxee and Comcast held a teleconference with FCC Chief Technology Officer Henning Schulzrinne last week to discuss technical approaches to deliver basic tier channels to QAM devices, ex parte notices filed by both companies show (http://xrl.us/bm8byj, http://xrl.us/bm8byq). The teleconference was held at Shulzrinne’s request, the notices said. That meeting followed a separate disclosure by both Boxee and Comcast that they had met with the same FCC officials on the same day, but did not say whether the meetings were held together (http://xrl.us/bm52hp, http://xrl.us/bm52gw). A Media Bureau spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to our query about the status of the proceeding.
At the heart of the debate has been Boxee’s Live TV product, a $50 dongle that attaches to an antenna or cable set-top box for reception of broadcast and basic-tier cable content to D-Link’s Boxee Box. If the Live TV device were required to get CableCARD certification, its retail price would increase to $130, plus Boxee would also have to pay a $225,000 certification fee, Kippen said. “The cable companies could individually not certify us, meaning” Live TV wouldn’t work and “they would also be charging people an extra fee to rent a CableCARD,” Kippen said. “All those things don’t make sense to us."
Kippen declined to disclose sales of Live TV products, but said Boxee sold out of the first batch of pre-ordered devices earlier this year. Live TV owners use the product “on a fairly regular basis during the week,” said Kippen, who declined to be more specific. Many customers were buying the product to watch local news and 70 percent have a smartphone or notebook with them when they are watching it, Kippen said. About 40 percent of customers have a tablet while they view Live TV, he said. About 35-40 percent of Live TV owners are using it with a cable subscription, Kippen said. “A lot of people with second screens are waiting to tap it.”