Wasn't it also the only bill vetoed by Bush 41? (If so, more significant than the only passed after a veto.) John Willkie -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Craig Birkmaier Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 11:21 AM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Re: PR: Majority of New HDTVs Powered By ATI At 4:37 PM -0800 11/15/04, Dale Kelly wrote: >The inclusion of a digital "tuner" (cable Plug and Play feature) in DTV sets >was an Cable Industry initiative which required FCC approval and to my >knowledge was not pro forma. One quid pro quo for such approval was that an >ATSC tuner be included in such sets and these are the ATI tuners of which we >speak. >How the cable industry was brought to this initiative is of interest and I >have not heard that the FCC was involved. Perhaps a little background history is in order here. In the early '90s, there was tremendous public pressure on Congress do something about rapidly rising cable rates. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (the "Cable Act") gave the FCC power to re-regulate the Cable industry. FYI, this was the ONLY bill that was passed over a Presidential veto during the first Bush administration. Among the provisions of that bill was a mandate for the FCC to unbundle consumer premises equipment, and to limit the charges that a cable company could levy for certain aspects of the customer premises wiring. Prior to this legislation, a cable company could charge a monthly fee for each set served in a home. The legislation made it clear that cable companies COULD NOT prevent a consumer from using a "third-party" STB that was technically compatible with the system. Here is an excerpt from an FCC FAQ on the 1992 Cable Act that provides additional details: http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/nrcb4009.txt February 22, 1994 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS REGARDING CABLE TELEVISION REGULATIONS The Federal Communications Commission has adopted a number of rules regarding cable television as required by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992 (the "Cable Act"). The following information answers some frequently asked questions about cable television regulation. ......... Q: My cable operator tells me that now I have to use equipment which I didn't need before, such as a converter box or a remote control, and they want to charge me for the use of this equipment. Do I have to use their equipment and do I have to pay for it? A: Cable operators may require their subscribers to use specific equipment, such as converters, to receive the basic service tier. They may include a separate charge on your bill to lease this equipment to you on a monthly basis. This monthly rate must be based on the operator's actual costs of providing the equipment to you. Operators may also sell equipment to you, with or without a service contract. If an operator provides a choice between selling and leasing the equipment, the monthly leasing rate will be regulated but the sales price will be unregulated. If an operator only sells equipment and does not also lease equipment, then the sales price must be the actual cost of the equipment plus a reasonable profit, and any service contract should be based on the estimated cost to service the equipment. If the customer buys the equipment but does not purchase a service contract, the customer can be charged for repairs and maintenance. Cable operators may not prevent customers from using their own equipment if such equipment is technically compatible with the cable system. The rules require that charges for converters, remote controls, connections for additional televisions, and cable home wiring be listed separately on your bill. If you have a question about the rates your cable operator is charging for equipment, you should contact your local franchising authority. -------------- At that point in time, the FCC was trying to work out the details of how the shift to digital television would impact the cable industry and the consumer premises equipment that would be needed. This was going on in parallel with the ACATS process, so we (myself, Gary Demos, and several people from groups at MIT) had the opportunity to work with the staff at the FCC to help them understand the issues and what would be required. For those who are interested, the following .pdf document written by Joseph Bailey of MIT provides significant insights to the issues that were being considered at that time. http:itc.mit.edu/rpcp/Pubs/settop_mkt/settop2.pdf Given the pending changes in technology, the FCC chose to focus on digital cable boxes, as there appeared to be little interest among CEA members to go after the Analog STB market. The 1996 Telecommunications Act expanded the FCCs role in this area, requiring the FCC to develop regulations to open the market for set-top boxes for cable systems. The pertinent portion of the legislation is provided below: CABLE EQUIPMENT COMPATIBILITY- Section 624A (47 U.S.C. 544A) is amended-- (1) in subsection (a) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (3) and inserting `; and'; and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: `(4) compatibility among televisions, video cassette recorders, and cable systems can be assured with narrow technical standards that mandate a minimum degree of common design and operation, leaving all features, functions, protocols, and other product and service options for selection through open competition in the market.'; (2) in subsection (c)(1)-- (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respectively; and (B) by inserting before such redesignated subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraph: `(A) the need to maximize open competition in the market for all features, functions, protocols, and other product and service options of converter boxes and other cable converters unrelated to the descrambling or decryption of cable television signals;'; and (3) in subsection (c)(2)-- (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and (E) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively; and (B) by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following new subparagraph: `(D) to ensure that any standards or regulations developed under the authority of this section to ensure compatibility between televisions, video cassette recorders, and cable systems do not affect features, functions, protocols, and other product and service options other than those specified in paragraph (1)(B), including telecommunications interface equipment, home automation communications, and computer network services;'. This is how the FCC got into the middle of the battle to open up the markets for Cable STBs. From this point the FCC started putting pressure on the CEA and Cable industry to develop open standards for cable STBs. Cable Labs created the OpenCable initiative to set these standards, and the FCC continued to prod the CEA and cable industry to work this out, rather than the Commission setting technical standards. The rest is history, as the FCC blessed the agreement between the CEA and Cable industry regarding one-way cable compatibility. But the foot dragging continues, as the CEA and Cable industries are still trying to work out the technical specs for two-way compatibility. So bottom line, I guess you can say that the cable industry has been just as involved in the openCable initiative as they were in the ATSC standard. They let the industries work out the details, rather than taking the lead and developing both the Digital Broadcast and OpenCable standards. Having been in the middle of this, I can say with some degree of credibility that this has delayed the DTV transition by at least a decade, while significantly increasing the complexity of digital television systems. Unfortunately, there is no one to blame at the FCC, since this mess has been allowed to fester by three FCC Chairmen and a long list of Commissioners, each of which has been placed in the unenviable position of trying to prop up the bad decisions made by their predecessors. Hope this helps... Regards Craig ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.