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To: Tim McCormick who wrote (33735)	6/10/1998 6:48:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Hey! It's going to be legal to buy a cable settop box in the US................................... WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a few years, cable television customers could have the option of buying rather than being forced to rent cable boxes that will work on any system in the country. The Federal Communications Commission, carrying out the wishes of Congress in a 1996 telecommunications law, plans to adopt rules Thursday to make that happen. FCC officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said cable customers should be able to buy standalone cable boxes or TV sets, VCRs and other devices with the boxes built into them beginning in July 2000. The goal is to get the devices on store shelves before that year's end-of-the-year holiday shopping season kicks off in November. FCC rules would apply to both digital and analog cable set-top boxes, FCC officials said. But, as more cable TV companies shed analog boxes in their changeover to improved digital technology, the rules' biggest impact would be on the market for digital cable boxes. Congress' aim was not only to give cable customers a choice in how to obtain these boxes but also to bring more competition to companies that make them. Currently, a cable customer who needs a box must rent it for a fee that varies among local cable TV systems from $2 to $4 a month. Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association, said the boxes could sell from as low as $30 to $100, depending on their level of sophistication. Still, Shapiro said the boxes in the long run "would cost people less than what they are paying now to their cable companies for the rentals." In the existing analog world, almost half the nation's 67 million cable TV customers rent analog boxes to receive premium cable channels such as HBO or Showtime or pay-per-view shows. Or they rent because all signals on their cable systems are scrambled and the box is necessary to view them. But in the foreseeable digital world, all customers that want improved pictures and more plentiful channels offered from digital cable service need a box. Cable customers would retain the option of leasing boxes once the rules take effect, FCC officials said. Under the FCC plan, cable boxes sold in stores would contain, among other things, the circuitry necessary to let the cable TV system communicate with customers' TV sets to receive authorized services -- but the boxes won't include critically important security features, FCC officials and cable engineers said. Security features to protect the cable TV network from hackers and pirates would be contained in an electronic card, which would be owned and controlled by the cable system. After a person buys a set-top box or a TV set containing the box in a store, the cable company would make a house call to plug the security card into a slot or port on the set-top box or TV set.

To: Tim McCormick who wrote (33735)	6/10/1998 9:27:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Premiere. They use d-boxes......... wired.com German DigiTV Plan Presses On Wired News Report 1:10pm 10.Jun.98.PDT Premiere, the pay-TV service at the center of two German media giants' plans for digital TV, intends to push forward with its digital service despite rejection by the European Commission. The European Union last month blocked an attempt by Bertelsmann AG and Leo Kirch to merge their digital-TV activities, contesting the deal on the grounds that it would create a market monopoly. But Premiere said today that it has filed new applications for digital broadcasting licenses. Premiere said the application was based on the current investor structure in which French pay-TV service Canal Plus and Bertelsmann TV unit CLT-Ufa each hold 37.5 percent and Kirch owns 25 percent. Canal Plus has announced its plans to sell its share. Premiere chief executive Ferdinand Kayser said he hoped to have 15 digital programs approved for the Munich and Hamburg markets in time for the Christmas shopping season. Premiere said it currently has 1.65 million subscribers, 120,000 of whom receive its digital service.