Cablevision Gets FCC Exemption to Encrypt Basic Channels
Cablevision won an FCC waiver to become the first cable operator allowed to encrypt basic-cable channels. The company and supporters have said the action will reduce pollution by allowing the cable operator to turn service on and off without sending technicians to homes (CD Oct 26 p3). The CEA and Public Knowledge had some qualms about the ruling, made by the Media Bureau and released Friday. The order requires Cablevision to make good on its promise to give CableCARDs or set-top boxes without charge to subscribers who don’t have either.
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The company contended fewer that than 1 percent of customers in New York City, where it plans to go all-digital soon, lack a set-top or CableCARD, said the order, signed by bureau Chief Bill Lake. “Even so, we are concerned about the increased cost for those basic-only subscribers who rely on Section 76.630’s encryption prohibition to ensure compatibility with their consumer electronics equipment (i.e., digital televisions equipped with QAM tuners).” To “mitigate the harm to this subset of customers,” the company offered to provide, for as long as 10 years and at no charge, as many as two free set-tops or CableCARDs to such subscribers, the order continued. That “should substantially mitigate the costs for subscribers who are affected and thus addresses many of the concerns raised by commenters opposed to Cablevision’s request. This offer should be included in a notice by Cablevision to its subscribers.”
The exemption “will provide an experimental benefit that could be valuable in the Commission’s further assessment of the utility of the encryption rule,” the ruling said. It required Cablevision to report in three, six and 12 months on the number of complaints, devices provided free and technician visits averted by use of the encryption. “We are pleased that the FCC granted our request which will benefit customers and decrease costs,” a company spokeswoman said. She wouldn’t say when Cablevision will go all-digital in New York.
CEA sees a “silver lining” to the “unfortunate decision,” a spokeswoman said. “While we are disappointed that the Media Bureau has further weakened the commission’s cable compatibility rules, we are encouraged by the prospect of a future rulemaking and the explicit requirement that Cablevision comply with the new rules. Rather than make policy by granting waivers and issuing enforcement orders, the FCC should instead move quickly to revise the rules to give consumers the benefits of competition, choice and innovation as promised by Section 629” of the Communications Act. President David Donovan of the Association for Maximum Service Television, another opponent of a waiver, said he hadn’t had time to read the order.
President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project said he’s “concerned about what the bureau did not do,” because it “failed to provide assurance that this will not be the first of many similar waivers.” He said, “I don’t have a problem with what the bureau did,” but the group wants the commission “to conduct a rulemaking rather than to make policy by waiver.” Public Knowledge acknowledges that “the unique facts presented in this case by Cablevision justified granting a waiver for encryption of basic cable service,” Legal Director Harold Feld said in a written statement. “We are also pleased that the Media Bureau will monitor Cablevision’s commitment to provide free set-top boxes. At the same time, we are still concerned that the Commission is proceeding on a case-by-case basis on a variety of set top box issues.”