[mythtv-users] FCC will allow encryption of basic cable, offers measures to protect open access

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 8:00 AM, Ronald Frazier <ron at ronfrazier.net> wrote:
...
> And it says smaller providers are exempt from these restrictions. I
> take that to mean that they are free to encrypt the signals while
> giving nothing back in return. WTF? How about if you can't meet the
> full mandate then you don't get permission to encrypt?

While the definition of "smaller" is a bit largish for my taste,
the issue is that the small ("mom and pop") regional MSOs
simply do not have the resources to be able to pay for
the STBs and/or HD-DTA or E-DTAs and give them out for
"free"(*).  Unlike the bigger MSOs (say, Comcast, Time Warner
Cable), that can roll out the DTAs by region, and spread their
costs out over years (if they choose), for the small MSOs, for
this to be a solution they implement, have to do it all at once
(they only have one franchise/region).

The FCC (and the government in general) has always
supported the issues that small businesses (and those
that support small (usually rural) areas), because their
needs are simply different from those in high density areas.
I believe the FCC was concerned that including the small
companies in the ruling might very well have forced some
of them to throw in the towel, and be borged by one of the
big players, as has happened to many of the small regionals
over the years.

Gary

(*) Given the Canada model, where you can purchase your
own STB, a HD STB costs around $200-300.  A "cost optimized"
HD-DTA/E-DTA might eventually cost $50 (that is an estimate).
The small regionals could easily guess on their costs by
multiplying those with service and without a STB, by the
appropriate number.