FCC Moving Forward With DSTAC NPRM; MVPDs Unite in Opposition as Markey Welcomes It

The FCC said it will move forward with an NPRM on a downloadable security replacement for CableCARD, on the same day a group of multichannel video programming distributors, consumer electronics companies and content providers and some of their associations announced the formation of a coalition opposing such a move. Chairman Tom Wheeler will circulate an NPRM to eighth-floor FCC offices that he said is intended for a vote Feb. 18. Communications Daily had first reported, in December, that such an NPRM was in the works and likely to come soon (see 1512150072).

The new proposal identifies what information should pass from MVPD services to competitive devices, proposes creating a standards body to ensure those information streams are passed through, and "will not interfere with business relationships between MVPDs and their content providers" or customers, the FCC said in a news release/fact sheet Tuesday.

The proposals seem largely based around the Consumer Video Choice Coalition-backed proposals that came out of the FCC Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee, as was expected. Many tech companies back such proposals, and coalition members, according to its website, include Google, Public Knowledge and TiVo.

Such proposals "force" MVPDs and programmers to "dismantle" their services for third parties to use, said the newly minted Future of TV Coalition. It includes AT&T, the American Cable Association, Dish Network, MPAA, NCTA, NTCA, and about 40 others. But Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., as the FCC was making the announcement, "hails" it, according to his office.