The FCC Media Bureau granted an unopposed request...
The FCC Media Bureau granted an unopposed request from TiVo for an extension for manufacturers of the deadline for interactive HD set-top boxes to include Internet Protocol outputs, said an order released Friday (http://bit.ly/1oyIpxL). The deadline is now June 1,…
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2015, one year after the previous June 2, 2014, deadline. Small cable operators with fewer than 400,000 subscribers have until Sept. 1, 2015. TiVo, NCTA and others had requested a waiver or extension of the deadline because the Digital Living Network Alliance has not released industry standards for the boxes; standards were expected to come out in 2013. “Waiving the IP-based output rule to allow development of the new DLNA standard is in the public interest because it will assist the introduction of a new home networking technology,” the bureau said. TiVo had also asked the bureau to issue a clarification that the rules requiring IP outputs in HD boxes are still in effect and not vacated by the EchoStar decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which wiped away several FCC rules involving set-top boxes (CD Nov 19 p6). NCTA and several pay-TV companies opposed that request, and the bureau decided to defer a decision on the matter. “To provide the Commission time to resolve the issue concerning the continued effectiveness of the rule,” the bureau granted the extension “without determining whether the rule remains in effect after EchoStar,” said the order.