Thomson thinks Charter deserves an FCC CableCARD waiver on 7 low-...

Systems. The unit sells gear to cable operators and telcos. The waiver would serve the public interest, Kurkjian said. Thomson backed a similar Comcast bid for a waiver on 5 low-end set-top models but has been neutral on more sweeping NCTA and Verizon requests. Once a staunch CableCARD advocate, Thomson changed stances after selling the TV business to TTE, for which it no longer is a sales agent. Kurkjian reminded Martin Thomson “has participated actively in almost all” FCC DTV transition proceedings as a Grand Alliance member and as the only CE maker besides Zenith to back a DTV tuner mandate before the FCC ordered it. Thomson also played an “active role” in negotiating with the cable industry the unidirectional plug & play agreement that bred CableCARD, he said. “Overarching principles” guide Thomson’s DTV advocacy and drove its endorsement of a waiver for Charter, he said. Thomson wants: (1) Consumer products that span “a full range” of function and price. (2) The speediest possible analog-to-digital transition. (3) A regulatory environment “that is conducive to competition and innovation and affords flexibility consistent with marketplace developments.” Thomson agrees with Charter that low-end set-top prices have “declined dramatically” since 2003, Kurkjian said. But that’s not true of CableCARD “separable security” costs, which now are “a very large percentage” of box cost, he said: “The continued availability of genuinely low-cost set-top boxes not burdened by the substantial incremental costs necessitated by compliance with the integration ban is important to millions of consumers seeking a relatively low-cost solution as their first step in the digital television world.” A waiver for Charter “would preserve an affordable entry point for consumers making the transition to digital video technology and therefore facilitate and accelerate” the DTV transition,” Kurkjian said. It also would enable Charter to devote more resources to downloadable conditional access security (DCAS), he said. It’s “imperative” that DCAs go into use “as quickly as feasible,” he said. Thomson doesn’t believe the waiver “will undermine competition,” as CEA and others claim, he said. Thomson still believes “common reliance” is “essential to the development of a competitive marketplace” for DTV products, Kurkjian said. Charter has said it agrees and vowed to deploy hundreds of thousands of HD and PVR CableCARD set-tops to its “highest-revenue, best customers,” he said: “Thomson trusts that Charter’s recognition of the continued importance of common reliance will inform its marketplace behavior.”