2007 In Preview: All Digital, All The Time

Yesterday, we took a look back at 2006 and concluded high definition reaching a critical mass was the story of the year. For 2007, instead of forecasting the obvious (everyone gets HDTV – for less, digital media is everywhere) or making a bunch of wild predictions (Comcast buys TiVo), Mari and I wanted to focus on two notable dates.

March 1

Come March 1, all televisions and “TV receiver equipment” produced must include a digital (ATSC) tuner. The reason this date is more significant (and more intriguing) than last years deadline to include digital tuners in large TVs is because it encompasses DVRs and placeshifting devices. In 2002 the FCC first proposed staggered tuner deadlines as we transition to DTV and published the final order (PDF) in 2005:

By this action, the Commission is modifying its rules to advance the date on which new television receivers with screen sizes 13-24″ and certain other TV receiving devices such as VCRs and digital video recorders must include the capability to receive broadcast digital television signals from the current date of July 1, 2007 to March 1, 2007. The Commission is also amending its rules to apply the digital television reception capability requirement to new receivers with screen sizes smaller than 13″ on this same schedule. The DTV reception requirement, which also often is termed the “DTV tuner requirement,” is being implemented under an approach that applies it first to large screen receivers and then progressively to smaller screen receivers and other devices over a period of several years. The modifications made herein affect the final step of this phase-in plan. With these changes, the scheduled implementation plan will provide for all new TV receiver equipment to include digital reception capability as of March 1, 2007.

Now there may be some wiggle room in this mandate…

For example, TiVo offers the Series2 DT which “does not support recording from over-the-air antenna.” However, it appears the hardware used to tune analog cable could also tune NTSC OTA broadcasts if the software permitted it. By not providing an ATSC tuner but preventing NTSC OTA tuning, has TiVo met the FCC requirement?

In another example, Sling Media has segregated their lower end lineup with the Slingbox AV and the Slingbox Tuner. The Tuner model includes an NTSC tuner and the AV model includes no tuner. Is the Slingbox AV classified as “TV receiver equipment” and/or does leaving out all tuners meet the FCC requirement?

The other interesting angle: What happens to products such as TiVo’s (single tuner) Series2 and Sling Media’s Slingbox Tuner that don’t reside in that grey area, that are clearly non-compliant with the FCC’s regulation? Will the Series2 be mothballed? (The current rebate expires 2/17…) Will these devices be replaced by new devices or be retrofitted with ATSC tuners? How many months will it take to work through existing inventory, anyway?

What we have is a date, but answers are in short supply. It’ll be interesting to watch this unfold. (I’ll be sure to do some investigating at CES.)