[mythtv-users] FCC proposal

Gary Buhrmaster gary.buhrmaster at gmail.com
Fri Feb 10 15:11:45 UTC 2012


On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 11:07, Steven Adeff <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/let-1000-boxees-bloom-fighting-big-cables-encryption-initiative.ars?src=fbk



As is typical in such "proposals", both sides have
chosen to put forward the facts that support their
position, asserted unsubstantiated claims, and
dismiss the other side as ill-informed.  And they
both are right (to some extent).

I never liked watching sausages being made either....



For the cableco's, this is really all about theft
of service issues.  The reality is that there are
some locations where people will choose to
try to access basic cable without paying.
This requires the cableco to roll a truck to
disconnect the cables every time service is
terminated (and roll another truck when it
is reconnected).  Few should dispute
that this can be expensive to the cablecos,
both in terms of people to do the work, and
the cost to the equipment/operation/environment
of driving the truck around.  The installation fees
actually allowed to be charged do not (usually)
cover the totally encumbered costs, so the more
times you roll the truck, the more every other
customer has to pay.  It has usually been
claimed that some (largish) apartment
buildings (often in largish cities) with high
turnover rates also have a high rate of theft of
service (you might note where a waiver has
already been issued to allow encrypting of
basic basic).  The cableco's care about
their costs, and the profits.  They are
using the argument of "going green" (no
truck roll) to reduce their costs.  The FCC is
supporting the "going green" environmental
savings argument (I presume that had the
EPA run the numbers for proposed carbon
tax values, but I did not see that in the proposal,
and I did not try to access all the supporting
material).

(Btw, OTA is simply not an option for some
set of the people impacted in such complexes,
since one is not allowed to put up antennas,
nor would they work in many cases in the (largish)
apartment complexes.)

For the independent "STB" equipment
(the boxees) this is all about cost and
market share.  It is not that they could
not get their equipment cablecard
compatible, it is that needing to get boxen
cablelabs certification is expensive and
has a long lead time (I think Ceton took
around 18 months?).  I would not be
surprised that with a cablecard the
Boxee box would cost another $150,
reducing its appeal, and lost future sales.
Like the cablecos, D-link is in this for
a profit, and cares about their costs, and
the ability to sell future products.  They
are not in this fight for the consumer.
This is a case about being able to stay
in the "impulse buy" price range and
installation process (having to call your
cableco for a cablecard makes it too
difficult for many; maybe they need to
get BestBuy (and Fry's, et al) to have
in-store cablecard signups, like they do
for cell phone companies; but that would
be a higher expense, again).

As far as the consumer is concerned,
the FCC assertion of a small percentage
of the total cable users being impacted
is probably right.  It is those with with
digital TVs without a STB and those
(highly represented on this list) crazys
with clear-QAM PC tuners :-).  But that
tends to dismiss that those using
digital TVs without a STB tend to often
be the set of people "most at risk"
(abusing the term) in that they are going
to tend to be those on the lowest or fixed
incomes (not those with 60" flat screen TVs
who spend $300/month for every tv package
and on-demand offering available from their
cableco).  Eventually adding in another
$10/month to the cable bill for STBs can
be a lot of money for some.  And, like
it or not, the clear-QAM PC tuner crowd
numbers are simply not large enough to
really matter to rule makers, although
since everything is about *me*, I
personally care since my clear-QAM
tuners would turn into paperweights.


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