CEA to FCC: Expedite Two-Way Products

CEA TO FCC: EXPEDITE TWO-WAY PRODUCTS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Todd Spangler]
The Consumer Electronics Association, which represents more than 2,100 companies in the consumer-technology industry, filed a proposal with the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday asking the agency to allow consumer-electronics makers to build products compatible "with all cable operator services" in order to "end the stalemate over bringing full-line 'plug-and-play' competition to the market for digital consumer devices that work on cable systems." The CEA, in a press release, said its members want the ability to deliver products "equivalent to those so called lower-end, operator-supplied interactive set-top boxes and, equally important, offering a way forward toward licensing and assuring support for competitive devices that are fully interactive with all cable operator services." The National Cable & Telecommunications Association issued a response Wednesday in which general counsel Neal Goldberg said the CEA's new proposal "should be discussed at the continuing inter-industry discussions that have been underway since 2003."
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6389615.html?display=Breaking+News