Technical Specifics

The proposal calls out a number of technical specifics that must be adhered to in order to comply with the open standards concept.  These technical specifics are designed to “level the playing field” between the competing device and software innovators to ensure consumers are no longer subjected to vendor lock-in as they are today.  These technical specifics include information data stream requirements, a call for a security standard, the requirement for content management to protect copyright, licensing and advertising agreements, as well as consumer protections like maintaining privacy and anonymity, emergency alerting and children’s advertising restrictions.

Data Streams

The proposal put forward by the FCC calls for two information streams to be provided by the MVPDs.  These include (1) service discovery to provide a programming guide with channel listings, content descriptions, on-demand catalogs and other content information, and (2) permissions and restrictions regarding what is allowed to be done with the content, such as recording or manipulation of playback.  Of course, the video and audio content will also be delivered as a data stream, and the industry will continue to use the well-established standards for content format and encoding.

Security Standards

As with all things regarding security and the government these days, the FCC proposal is a little muddled.  Although it does advocate a security standard, it does not specify what it should be.  This will be left open to the standards committee with the intention of providing a means to prevent theft and misuse of content.  The caveat in place is that the choices in security measures implemented by the MVPDs and the device manufacturers should not be used for anti-competitive purposes.  The hope is that by allowing the committee to set these standards any attempts at vendor lock-in will be avoided.

Copyright and Theft of Service Protection

Maintaining the requirements for protecting the creators of content from copyright infringement and the MVPDs from theft of service is another important aspect of the FCC proposal.  The devices and software associated with them must not circumvent the copyright protections or in any way interfere with the intentions of the licensing agreements between the content providers, MVPDs and their customers.  Devices and software must be engineered in such a manner as to support and ensure the enforceability of these intellectual property rights.

Emergency Alerts, Privacy and Advertising Restrictions

The open standard will call for ensuring that U.S. Emergency Alert System continues to be supported as it is in all current set top devices.  In a similar manner, the open standards will require that all state and federal regulations regarding consumer privacy are enforced in the technical designs of the third-party devices.  Finally, the current regulations regarding the control of advertising certain products and services to children must also continue to be enforced.

What Next?

It will be some time before the debate on what specifically should be included in the open standards settles out.  Given the speed at which the FCC bureaucracy moves, the need to “herd the cats” of MVPDs, device manufacturers and software companies into a functional standards committee, and the time required to implement everything, we likely won’t see significant market adoption until somewhere around 2020. 

But what about competition from other sources such as Roku, Apple TV, and other IP based devices?  With only the need for a high-speed Internet connection, these devices are capable of delivering vast amounts of content on demand and for very little money compared to traditional cable and pay-per-view offerings. There have also been a growing number of “smart” TVs introduced in the last few years, incorporating many of the features of the set top box, home computer and the IP-based devices, including gaming consoles. In fact, we are seeing features in the latest release of Microsoft’s XBOX that indicates they are crossing over into the domain of the set top box.  Should these devices also be required to comply with the FCC regulations, even though they technically are not set top boxes designed for cable or satellite reception management?

It will be some time before all of this gets sorted out, but it is clear that the era of the proprietary set top box is also coming to an end.  Make room in the closet next to the rabbit ears, that old set top box is finally on its way out.