Policy —

Big cable pushes 7 “consumer principles” for cable, IP video

As the FCC launches its National Broadband Plan, the cable industry is …

As the Federal Communications Commission hands its National Broadband Plan over to Congress, the cable industry's top trade association has issued a manifesto that looks pretty good, at least on paper. It boils down to seven "consumer principles," says the National Telecommunications and Cable Association, to which cable operators will adhere, "and which we believe could serve as the foundation for Commission and inter-industry efforts."

The principles have a sort of FCC Internet Policy Statement or even FDR Four Freedoms speech feeling to them, but focus on mobility of content, portability of devices, and ease of Internet access. They include the Holy Grail: "1. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access their multichannel provider's video services without a set-top box supplied by that provider." A right-to-broadband clause: "3. Consumers should have the option to access video content from the Internet through their multichannel provider’s video devices and retail video devices." And a freedom-of-platform commitment: "5. Consumers should have the option to easily and securely move video content between and among devices in their homes."

Finally, principle number seven of this declaration proclaims that "To maximize consumer benefits and to ensure competitive neutrality in a highly dynamic marketplace, these principles should be embraced by all video providers, implemented flexibly to accommodate different network architectures and diverse equipment options, and, to the maximum extent possible, serve as the basis for private sector solutions, not government technology mandates."

Competitive "neutrality," eh? We never thought we'd see the cable industry use that word again. Nice to know that big cable supports this concept among its major players, if not between ISPs and Internet content providers.

Change the rules

But it's pretty obvious that this statement is an attempt to maintain the high ground as the FCC ponders new regulations for the rapidly changing video marketplace. The agency's executive summary for the NPB promises that it is going to "change rules to ensure a competitive and innovative video set-top box market." Commissioners and FCC staff have repeatedly said that, since the vast majority of Americans have television sets, making it easier for consumers to access both cable and IP video on the same device platform, or to easily choose a new one, is critical to driving broadband adoption.

And the Commission has also acknowledged that its efforts thus far have failed—albeit to some degree because of the passive aggressive behavior of the cable industry. CableCard, that little data wedge you can stick in the set-top box of your choosing (as opposed to your cable company's choosing), was a dog. Even when required by the agency, it offered few of the options that most consumers regard as indispensable—especially video-on-demand and program guides.

So couch potatoes have famously not opted for card-powered third-party boxes. And, as we've reported, tru2way, the Java based middle-ware program that brings those two-way capabilities to CableCard, is rolling out to consumers at a glacial pace. Meanwhile Internet fiber based Verizon and the cable industry spent much of 2008 jousting over the technology—Verizon noting that if cable is serious about an "all-provider" standard for TV, "cable-centric" tru2way won't cut it.

There have been some bright spots of late, most notably Microsoft's openness to CableCard tuners on PCs. But ultimately the idea is that consumers will be able to access video content from anywhere, with any sort of device, and very easily. While we're invoking historic speeches, let's paraphrase Martin Luther King's: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where video devices will be judged not by their proprietary technology, but by their universality; where Coretta and the kids can easily watch both cable and IP video via TiVo, Roku box, AppleTV, Xbox 360, PS3 or anything else, transfer their purchased content when and where they so desire, and switch devices with little if any trouble."

Multiple content sources

Or something like that. Anyway, clearly the cable industry wants to invoke this broad concept, while keeping the discussion focused on "private sector solutions." Some of these principles are clearly self-serving, such as number 3: "Consumers should have the option to access video content from the Internet through their multichannel provider’s video devices and retail video devices"—this obviously a handmaiden to Comcast and Time Warner's TV Everywhere initiative.

Still, you have to appaud number 4: "Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can search for video content across multiple content sources, including content from their multichannel provider, the Internet, or other sources."

But before you get that free-at-last feeling while reading these principles (listed in full below), keep in mind that these are the guys who support Selectable Output Control—shutting down the analog streams to video content in the name of "security," and forcing an untold number of home theater owners to buy new gear. So given the story so far, we're going to hope for the best and expect the worst as the FCC launches various rulemakings and proceedings to get this video show on the road.

And here, as promised, are those seven principles:

1. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access their multichannel provider’s video services without a set-top box supplied by that provider.
2. Consumers should also have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can access any multichannel provider’s video services through an interface solution offered by that provider.
3. Consumers should have the option to access video content from the Internet through their multichannel provider’s video devices and retail video devices.
4. Consumers should have the option to purchase video devices at retail that can search for video content across multiple content sources, including content from their multichannel provider, the Internet, or other sources.
5. Consumers should have the option to easily and securely move video content between and among devices in their homes.
6. Consumers should be assured the benefits of continuous innovation and variety in video products, devices and services provided by multichannel providers and at retail.
7. To maximize consumer benefits and to ensure competitive neutrality in a highly dynamic marketplace, these principles should be embraced by all video providers, implemented flexibly to accommodate different network architectures and diverse equipment options, and, to the maximum extent possible, serve as the basis for private sector solutions, not government technology mandates.

Channel Ars Technica