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TiVo: FCC should take baby steps on SOC - July 21, 2008

First (sort of) surprise on the MPAA's SOC petition: Digital video recorder inventor TiVo endorses the studios' request for a waiver of the rules, although it wants the agency to impose conditions on the waiver. The biggest condition it wants imposed is to make the waiver provisional, lasting no longer than two years, giving the FCC the chance to revisit the issue after the specific business models and content offerings being proposed by the MPAA have become clear:

From the filing:

TiVo believes a limited two-year waiver of the SOC prohibition would provide enough time to allow MPAA members to negotiate the terms of service with confidence and describe with clarity the parameters of the "new business model" that has developed, while giving the [FCC] an opportunity to assess the results of the waiver before making any grant permanent.

Other conditions TiVo would like to see:

• The FCC should make clear that a waiver would not permit the disabling of any CableLabs-approved protected digital outputs on set-top boxes, "as would be possible under the requested blanket waiver." If such outputs were to be disabled, TiVo warns, "consumers who relied on assurances that their devices would be compatible would face confusion and frustration as their devices seemingly malfunctioned, and device manufacturers would lose the value of their significant investments in manufacturing compliant devices."
• Certification of future outputs should be non-discriminatory and subject to FCC review:  "The Bureau should not delegate the Commission's authority over approving outputs for the Service directly to the content industry without retaining the ability to review resulting decisions."
• Consumers should be given "clear and conspicuous warning" before purchasing one of the new VOD offerings that the service may not be available on all audio/video outputs.

In two non-surprises, the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. endorses the MPAA's petition without conditions, as does the Director's Guild of America.

Stay tuned for more.
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