The MPAA and its member studios “are actively hostile” to any broadcast flag protection technology that allows remote viewing of DTV content, and therefore their arguments against TiVo’s TiVoGuard “should be taken with a grain of salt.” So argued Public Knowledge (PK) and Consumers Union (CU) in a joint reply Mon. at the FCC opposing a petition for reconsideration filed by the MPAA, which urged the Commission to require the imposition of proximity controls for TiVoGuard and SmartRight technologies for broadcast flag protection. The FCC had said it wasn’t inclined to impose mandatory proximity controls on SmartRight or TiVoGuard because it was satisfied each meets the stated goal of preventing indiscriminate redistribution of content. The MPAA said the Commission had acted prematurely. TiVoGuard is a “nascent technology that is exceedingly ill-defined” and lacks specificity in how it would “effectuate” remote access, the MPAA said. But those arguments are a red herring, PK and CU replied. Had the FCC been silent on proximity controls, the MPAA “might plausibly have argued” that the Commission hadn’t fully considered whether they ought to be required of any protection scheme, they said. PK and CU said they have repeatedly criticized the broadcast flag rules, but “we believe the Commission’s intention to limit the scope of what it hoped to accomplish with this regulation was the right intention.”
Paul Gluckman
Paul Gluckman, Executive Senior Editor, is a 30-year Warren Communications News veteran having joined the company in May 1989 to launch its Audio Week publication. In his long career, Paul has chronicled the rise and fall of physical entertainment media like the CD, DVD and Blu-ray and the advent of ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology from its rudimentary standardization roots to its anticipated 2020 commercial launch.
Thomson and its SmartRight partners have begun “private discussions” with the MPAA to develop criteria for remote content access controls so the “full functionality” of the system “can be exploited for the benefit of consumers,” Thomson told the FCC last week. Its comments were a response to a petition for reconsideration the MPAA had filed at the FCC a week earlier, urging the Commission to require imposition of proximity controls for SmartRight and TiVo’s TiVoGuard technologies. In its order certifying 13 broadcast flag technologies, the FCC had said it wasn’t inclined to impose mandatory proximity controls “where other reasonable constraints” exist. In its reply to the MPAA petition, Thomson said SmartRight’s commitment to impose proximity controls voluntarily, without the FCC requiring it, “was reiterated immediately and publicly upon the Commission’s approval of the SmartRight system, and remains fully in force today.” Thomson said “SmartRight is hopeful that a future private agreement on remote access might provide helpful guidance to the Commission as it continues its deliberations” in the broadcast flag rulemaking.
Promoting widespread use of the term “transmitters disabled” and corresponding screen icons is at the heart of a CEA draft of a standardized “recommended practice” that is circulating for comment and ultimately could ease restrictions on use of wireless personal electronic devices (PEDs) aboard commercial aircraft . CEA has set a Sept. 27 deadline for comments on the draft, with the aim of releasing it as a final voluntary standard Oct. 18, opening day of the CEA Industry Forum in San Francisco.
LOS ANGELES -- Macrovision has reached agreements with ReplayTV and TiVo that would place limits on how much content may be recorded and stored on high-capacity PVRs, Carol Flaherty, senior vp in Macrovision’s Technology Group told a day-long piracy workshop here sponsored by IRMA.
In a potential boon for those who predict a proliferation of 1080p HDTV sets for sale at the high end next year but fear a scarcity of programming to do them justice, a senior ESPN executive told our affiliated Consumer Electronics Daily that ESPN-HD plans to begin using “some” 1080p cameras “in the near future.”
Although it specifically was absolved by the FCC’s recent order on broadcast flag protection from any requirement to do so, Thomson will stand by its late-May pledge to the major movie studios and impose proximity controls on its SmartRight technology as a further buffer against the unauthorized redistribution of content, the company told the MPAA in a letter Fri. The letter said, “we believe that proximity content control will be essential until broader agreements can be reached on remote content access.” In return, Thomson subtly told the major studios it expected them to live up to their own pledge in May to work with the company “to develop criteria for remote content access.” Thomson said it hoped such criteria could be developed by the end of the year. Dave Arland, Thomson vp-communications & govt. relations, told us the commitment to MPAA on “turning on” proximity controls was made with the “understanding” the studios would help develop the criteria permitting activation of SmartRight’s most “compelling” feature -- the ability to access material stored in a home network from a remote location, such as vacation home or while on a business trip. Thomson’s decision to heed the MPAA’s request and impose “RTT” and “TTL” proximity controls was conditioned on its option to later relax those controls, should content owners agree or the FCC’s rules permit.
LOS ANGELES -- HDNet’s strategy in HDTV content delivery is to “break the mold, not stick to it” by proving that being consumer-driven and profit-driven aren’t “mutually exclusive,” its chmn., Mark Cuban, told the HDTV Forum here Wed. In a provocative keynote, he sought to rally TV display makers to support him in resisting those who would put “quantity over quality” in the delivery of HDTV programming. He also called on the CE industry to “ignore Hollywood” in building alliances he said have the effect of stifling innovation and working against what’s best for the consumer.
LOS ANGELES -- The success of ESPN-HD has exceeded all expectations, but the biggest challenge remains “getting the consumer comfortable with HDTV,” Bryan Burns, ESPN vp- strategic planning & business development, told the HDTV Forum here Tues. in a keynote. With “Joe and Martha Consumer” seeking an HD-ready DTV set, Burns said, “you see them walk in the store, you see them pull their credit card out and you see them put it back in their pocket because they're scared.”
The CEA has joined the chorus urging the FCC to grant an IEEE 802.18 Radio Regulatory Technical Advisory Group request to extend the comments deadline for a proceeding on using the white spaces between TV channels for unlicensed devices (CED Aug 18 p4).
Software recently introduced that allows consumers to automatically search the Internet for radio stations and to record songs as MP3 files is proof of the “real and imminent” threat of in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcasting (DAB) without content protection, the RIAA told the FCC in a letter Mon.