Comcast, TiVo Reach Voluntary Agreement on CableCARDs
Comcast and TiVo reached a voluntary agreement under which the operator will abide by CableCARD rules vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and work with TiVo to develop a two-way non-CableCARD security solution to replace CableCARD, the companies told the FCC (http://bit.ly/1wuQG4I). TiVo will use the solution developed by Comcast in its set-top boxes. CEA, which has aligned with TiVo against cable interests in past efforts to protect CableCARD rules, said it was “supportive” of the companies’ efforts to find a successor to CableCARDs. Last year, the D.C. Circuit vacated some encryption rules in EchoStar v. FCC but not the entire CableCARD regime, leading TiVo to petition the FCC to confirm the rules still applied.
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The deal could bolster Comcast’s arguments in favor of its planned buy of Time Warner Cable, since it would be an example of the cable giant working with an edge provider rather than muscling it out, said a cable attorney unconnected to the approximately $66 billion combination and a consumer electronics official in interviews Wednesday. But Comcast has incentives to reach an agreement with TiVo without having an ulterior, merger-related motive, said cable consultant Steve Effros, affiliated with Beyond Broadband Technology. “There are people who want to use TiVo products, and cable companies recognize that,” Effros said. “This has been coming for a long time, and it just happens to be Comcast."
The agreement also provides a clear path for TiVo, said a cable attorney. Threats to CableCARD rules in congressional deliberations over the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act and the company’s so-far unsuccessful effort to goad the FCC into replacing the rules vacated in EchoStar could have led to TiVo’s technology no longer being compatible with pay-TV technology, industry observers have told us (CD Nov 26 p1). Through the deal with Comcast, TiVo can be secure that its technology will work on the systems of the largest cable system operator in the U.S., and that it will have input in to the development of CableCARD’s successor, said TiVo General Counsel Matt Zinn in an interview Wednesday. The companies are “opening the door to a more innovative, consumer-friendly set-top box marketplace,” said House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. Eshoo has opposed legislation to remove CableCARD rules.
Comcast “will ensure that all CableCARD-enabled devices will continue to have access to all linear channels in all Comcast markets,” under the terms of the agreement, said that company and TiVo in a filing posted Tuesday to docket 97-80. Zinn declined to comment on the precise length of the agreement, but said it’s a “long-term” deal and cable companies will have moved on from CableCARD technology by the time it ends. It doesn’t involve an exchange of money between the two companies, said industry officials. Comcast wouldn’t comment.
The two companies will work together to create the successor tech to CableCARD, which will “enable retail devices to access the full Comcast lineup of linear and VOD programming,” the firms said in an ex parte filing. The security technology will be licensed to other cable operators “on commercially reasonable terms,” said the filing. Because of Comcast’s breadth, it’s likely that whatever security solution it adopts would become the most widely one in the industry, said a cable attorney. Though the agreement is voluntary between two companies and doesn’t involve the FCC, TiVo and Comcast informed Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake and members of his staff in a meeting Monday, the filing said.
The deal “demonstrates that the marketplace is working to provide innovative device solutions for consumers to access MVPD services and thereby advance the Commission’s navigation device goal,” said Comcast and TiVo’s filing. That echoed arguments by NCTA and other CableCARD opponents that regulations requiring the devices are unnecessary because the cable industry can address the issue itself (CD Sept 19 p5). The voluntary agreement is likely to be a useful example for that argument, Effros said. Zinn disagrees. Without incentives for companies to work together provided by regulations like the CableCARD rules, such agreements are less likely to happen, Zinn said. “We are trying to make sure current retail products are supported and will be supported in the future.”