No love for Comcast from the FCC. The regulatory agency has decided not to grant Comcast’s request for a waiver to continue offering a low-cost, non-CableCARD set-top past the July 1st 2007 deadline. Instead, Comcast must ship only CableCARD-compliant set-tops starting in the second half of the year.
I had the pleasure this week of listening in on a CES panel that included Comcast’s VP of digital development, James Henderson. When CableCARD came up, there was some distinct grumbling from Mr. Henderson, who nonetheless attempted to be diplomatic. While Mr. Henderson agreed that separable security is good for innovation in the long run (indeed cable companies wanted this once upon a time), in the short term he believes it will hamper what cable can introduce into the home.
No word yet on Verizon’s request for a waiver.
There’s a good article on the FCC ruling in xchange online. However, the reporter there argues that cable companies are protesting CableCARD because they stand to lose set-top leasing revenues if consumers buy CableCARD devices at retail. I think the bigger issue at the moment is the fact that operators have to spend more to put CableCARD-compliant set-tops in consumer homes.
There goes that nifty little DCT-700 box!