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Unresolved technical issues obstruct CableLabs approval of DTCP-I...

Unresolved technical issues obstruct CableLabs approval of DTCP-IP as a digital output protection technology for one- way plug & play cable devices, MPAA said. MPAA was answering a DTLA petition at the FCC urging the Commission to reverse CableLabs’…

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“wrongful refusal” and order it to approve DTCP-IP (CD March 2 p10). One problem is that many channels on cable’s digital “basic tier” aren’t scrambled at the cable operator’s headend, MPAA said: “This means that content carried on these channels would not be afforded any DTCP-IP protection when output over IP-based wired Ethernet or 802.11 wireless network connections… When unscrambled digital cable content is output in the clear over an IP-based output, it is exposed to mass, unauthorized redistribution and copying over the Internet.” To fix such lapses, MPAA, DTLA and CableLabs are working “to develop a means for providing protection to digital cable content carried on the digital basic tier in unscrambled form,” MPAA said. CableLabs, “in collaboration with DTLA,” also must define procedures for delivering and processing “system renewability messages” to promote the “long-term effectiveness of all digital output protection technologies,” MPAA said. Before the FCC rules on DTLA’s petition, it should allow “sufficient time” for MPAA, DTLA and CableLabs to “negotiate a workable solution” on DTCP-IP, MPAA urged.