The FCC Media Bureau should extend the June deadline...

The FCC Media Bureau should extend the June deadline for interactive HD set-top boxes to include Internet Protocol outputs, and issue a clarification on whether the rule remains in effect in the wake of the EchoStar decision, said TiVo in a waiver petition last week (http://bit.ly/1kmwKQP). The June date was based on an industry standard that was to be released by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) in 2013, TiVo said. But “DLNA has not published the standard referred to and TiVo is not aware that any progress update has been provided to the Bureau,” said TiVo. Without the standard “TiVo and others will not be able to make compliant and interoperable products,” said the filing. The interoperability requirement may also be a victim of the EchoStar decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which wiped away several FCC rules involving set-top boxes (CD Nov 19 p6), TiVo said. The bureau raised the possibility that the rule may have been vacated by EchoStar in Charter’s CableCARD waiver (CD April 22 p3) without resolving the matter, TiVo said. Though TiVo believes the requirement is still in effect, the Media Bureau should “clarify whether this regulation remains binding on the cable industry and suppliers such as TiVo,” said the petition. A DLNA spokeswoman didn’t respond directly to TiVo’s comments but pointed to a DLNA release (http://bit.ly/1aaRynP) describing demonstrations for “CVP-2” industry product design guidelines that “enable users to seamlessly and easily share subscription pay TV content on multiple screens in their homes.” The CVP-2 guidelines are currently available to DLNA members and are expected to be available to nonmembers in Q2, the spokeswoman said.