Atop TV Sets, Basic Black Boxes Face Competition

ATOP TV SETS, BASIC BLACK BOXES FACE COMPETITION
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Brad Stone]
For many Americans, the cable box — still commonly called the set-top box, though it is now too big to balance on top of increasingly thin TVs — may be the most disappointing piece of technology in their homes. As inventions like TiVo and YouTube alter the way people watch and control video, the traditional box has largely failed to keep up. Now that is beginning to change. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, makers of set-top boxes exhibited devices with a host of new features: more hard-disk space for storing digitally recorded TV shows, easier-to-navigate program guides, connections to Web sites, DVD burners and video games. The box manufacturers and the cable operators like Comcast, Cox and Time Warner Cable that they sell to, have an age-old motivation for improving their products: fear. New competitors are flooding into the TV business, including the industry’s rivals in the telephone business, and the computer kingpins Microsoft and Apple. Consumers can buy those alternatives at regular retail outlets, including the newest high-definition version of TiVo. It sells for $800 (with a $20 monthly fee) and can replace the box that cable and satellite providers lease to customers, instead of merely sitting on top of it and adding to living room clutter. Cable operators are being forced to play nice with these new entrants. The Federal Communications Commission has set a deadline of July 1 for all cable operators to make their services work with boxes from all third-party manufacturers, and last week it rejected a request from Comcast to extend the deadline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/technology/17settop.html
(requires registration)

COMCAST TO CHALLENGE RULING ON CABLE BOXES
[SOURCE: Technology Daily 1/11, AUTHOR: David Hatch and Andrew Noyes]
Comcast will ask the FCC to "immediately" review the agency's rejection of the company's request to be exempted from new rules governing cable set-top boxes. The regulations, which take effect July 1, require cable operators to offer units that accommodate insertable cards with security features designed to block channels and prevent programming theft. The rules are intended to spur a robust marketplace for the devices. Many consumers now rent proprietary boxes from their cable operators, meaning that if they switch providers, they must obtain replacements. Under the FCC's plan, a consumer could easily buy a standard box off the shelf and use it with any cable service. Comcast wants to continue to offer three low-cost models that have integrated security functions and do not accommodate external cards. "These set-top boxes are allowing more customers to get the advantages of digital services more quickly," company spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said. If Comcast must offer re-engineered units, rental prices would rise $2 or $3 a month, she added.
http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-BWGX1168973921194.html