Hey Dude - Sure looks promising! IMO - bet WAVO with their relationship with GIC is part this deal. If so, this is mega for WAVO.
U.S. FCC seeks retail cable set-top box market
Thursday, May 13, 1999 03:14 PM Mail this article to a friend
WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - Federal regulators on Thursday adopted a compromise to speed competition for new high-tech cable boxes, expected to be the gateway to a host of gee-whiz services in coming years including high-speed Internet links, on-demand movies and interactive television.
Consumers will gain set-top box choices starting next year, when, instead of being required to pay $2 or $3 a month from their local cable company to lease a box, they will be able to walk into a neighborhood electronics store and purchase their own equipment.
The key to the new boxes will be a separate plug-in security module that cable operators will be required to provide to allow the equipment to operate.
Thursday's compromise, approved by the Federal Communications Commission, exempts old-fashioned analog cable boxes from the the rules the FCC adopted last year requiring a separate security component.
Consumer electronics manufacturers and cable operators agreed that the expense of refitting analog boxes would needlessly delay the development of new digital and hybrid analog/digital boxes with separate security.
Under rules required by the 1996 Telecommunications Act and adopted by the FCC last year, cable operators must provide separate security modules for boxes bought in retail stores by July of next year.
The FCC rules forbid cable operators from providing on their own boxes with built-in security starting in 2005. Cable operators had asked to have the phase-out date extended or scrapped, but the FCC declined to change the date at Thursday's meeting.
FCC chairman William Kennard said he was pleased to see the cable and consumer electronics industries working together to meet the deadlines. "I'm glad that we're on track," Kennard said.
Analog boxes generally provide only cable television channels. Cable operators are rapidly converting their networks to digital technology, allowing them to carry far more TV channels and offer new services like Internet access through newer set-top boxes.
The multifunctional set-top box of the future has been the focus of recent megadeals among cable and other communications players. Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT) agreed to invest $5 billion in AT&T Corp. (Nyse:T) to get its Windows CE operating system on more of the boxes that AT&T plans to roll out to millions of its customers in coming years.
Leading manufacturers of set-top boxes include Scientific-Atlanta Inc (Nyse:SFA) and General Instrument Corp. (Nyse:GIC) , but other companies could jump into the market if strong demand develops at the retail level. Manufacturers are expected to integrate the boxes into television sets, VCRs and other home electronics devices as well.
Separately, the FCC on Thursday also adopted a rule requiring cellular telephones to include circuitry that will connect emergency calls to 9-1-1 operators more effectively.
The agency also asked for comments about what rules it should establish for use of a part of the airwaves now used by some TV channels that is expected to become available for other uses as broadcasters switch to digital technology. An auction of the bands now used for TV channels 60 to 62 and 65 to 67 is expected in 2001.
Quote for referenced ticker symbols: T, SFA, MSFT, GIC
© 1999, Reuters
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