‘Oversights’ mar a Nov. 7 CEA proposal at the FCC aimed at speedi...

Set-tops made under the CEA’s proposed terms could lack OCAP, which would “constrain them from supporting some of the newer capabilities” of OCAP being developed by CableLabs, such as enhanced TV (ETV), said Harmonic, a digital video compression systems supplier. A “subset” of ETV can be had without OCAP, but “the full set requires OCAP,” Harmonic said: “As a result, there is little economic incentive for MSOs to push these low-cost set-tops over their more expensive, full- featured cousins available with OCAP, digital outputs and HDTV outputs. These are the units which compete against the CEA’s CableCARD-equipped devices.” CEA claims “to want open standards in this area,” but has submitted no draft specifications to the Society of Cable Telecom Engineers (SCTE), cable’s standards development group, Harmonic said. Harmonic said it’s active in SCTE’s Digital Video Subcommittee, which met Fri. For that body to take up CEA’s proposal, CEA would have had to file a draft by Nov. 17; it didn’t, Harmonic said: “The lack of such proposals seems odd in the face of the various claims and requests from the consumer electronics companies.” CEA appreciates that Harmonic, a cable industry vendor, is “calling for an industry standard that promotes competitive cable equipment, and we share that goal,” a spokesman told us Fri. “But the cable lobby’s recent advocacy at the FCC demonstrates an unwillingness to comply with the law ending the cable equipment monopoly,” the spokesman said. CEA is an active participant in standards venues, including SCTE, he said. But when the Nov. 17 deadline came for the Dec. 1 meeting, “it was premature for us to make a formal submission,” he said. “We will certainly propose changes to existing standards that will promote competitive cable equipment, hopefully with cable’s future cooperation and guidance from the FCC,” he said. In comments opposing BendBroadband’s CableCARD waiver request, CEA said it’s “sympathetic” to the “plight” facing the small cable operator now that Motorola has decided “unilaterally” that it won’t make a CableCARD version of the DCT-700 set-top Bend wants to buy. But a waiver won’t mean relief for Bend and other small cable operators from the set-top “duopoly” of Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta, CEA said: “Rather the answer lies in, finally, empowering competitive entry into this device marketplace, via the cable industry’s finally providing specifications and licensing for a range of competitive navigation devices, including those that would address the needs of customers for all digital services, as Bend plans.” CEA’s “detailed proposal” at the FCC would provide for that kind of set-up, it said. The group “stands ready” to discuss the proposal “expeditiously” with the Commission “and any and all interested parties, including Bend,” CEA said.