Media Bureau Seeks Comment on Nagra Set-Top Box Waiver Request
Comments on a request for a waiver from certain FCC set-top box rules by Nagra USA are due Sept. 19, a public notice from the Media Bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnnv6a). Nagra asked for a three-year waiver of rules requiring a set-top box to include a CableCARD slot as well as an HDMI or DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connection so it can make a video gateway device lacking those features (http://xrl.us/bnnv6n), should its planned device be found to be covered by rules. “On the other hand,” Nagra said in its petition for a waiver, “if such a device is not subject to these sections, we ask that the Commission clarify this point.” Replies to the comments are due Nov. 1 in docket 12-242, the public notice said.
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The Nagra gateway device is designed to receive pay-TV programming through a networking connection and deliver the programming to “standards-based devices in the home” such as an iPad or IP-connected TV set. As such, the gateway device would largely leave the navigation functions to those other devices, the petition said. Commission rules bar devices from integrated navigation and security functions. Nagra’s envisioned gateway device accomplishes the same goals of the FCC so-called “integration ban” in a modern way that’s more reflective of the state of the industry and consumer demand, the petition said.
Nagra’s planned device would have no uncompressed outputs, the petition said. That’s why it needs a waiver of the HDMI and DVI requirements. The device would still allow customers “to enjoy the full range of services provided by their cable provider as those services would be available” through similar means, it said. Instead of decoding the signal in the device, it would pass it through compressed to a device like an iPad or smart TV, which would decode and display the signal, the petition said. Without the decoders in the device “it has no means to create the signals that are carried over DVI or HDMI connections,” it said.
Consumers already own and use devices that could be reached by a gateway device like the one Nagra is planning, it said. Granting the requested waiver would “provide better service to consumers that already have a home networking-enabled television or other device, and simultaneously provide an incentive to the marketplace to continue to innovate and market products that integrate home networking capabilities,” it said.
Nagra asked for the waiver to be granted in the case of a device that meets these five criteria: It receives MVPD content and has audio/video transcoding capabilities, it lacks uncompressed outputs and MPEG and/or AC-3 decoders, it has at least one home-networking interface that complies with open industry standards such as DLNA, it optionally provides a remote user interface through open standards and specifications, and it provides home networking service output to all devices “without discrimination and without requiring licenses, certification, approval, assent or testing” beyond what’s required for other aspects of the device, it said.