TV News

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EFF to FCC: Consumers Need Strong ‘Unlock the Box’ Rules That Bring Competition, Innovation to Set-Top Boxes

Copyright Laws Are No Obstacle to New Devices, Despite Cable Company Claims
Washington, D.C.—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to adopt robust, consumer-friendly “Unlock the Box” rules that will give Americans access to more innovative, useful, and creative devices and software for watching pay cable and satellite television.

The FCC’s proposed “Unlock the Box” rules will allow any manufacturer to create and market devices or apps that will connect consumers to their cable or satellite TV feeds. The proposal will lead to a new generation of navigation devices that let viewers search and play shows on cable, online services, or over-the-air broadcasts from a single clicker, app, or box.

“Unlock the Box” is a long-overdue effort to open up the closed world of TV set-top boxes to competition. For decades pay-TV customers have had no choice but to rent set-top boxes—and while the cost of the TVs and computers they use for viewing has dropped by 90 percent, the cost of cable set-top boxes that often contain three-generations-old technology have risen 185 percent. Recently, some pay-TV companies have begun making some programming available through apps on other devices, but they remain in complete control of the design and function of those apps, while competitors are locked out.

In comments to the FCC today, EFF urged adoption of “Unlock the Box” rules that maintain user privacy, allow testing by security researchers, and steer clear of loopholes that would enable cable and satellite TV companies to use copyright and other laws to maintain control over consumer devices for navigating TV viewing.

“Clunky, technologically-backwards rental set-top boxes that cost consumers an average of $231 a year and earn billions for cable companies are a frozen artifact of a bygone era. A handful of companies now maintain a monopoly over how consumers access the programming they pay for,’’ said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Mitch Stoltz. “Competition will drive innovation in features and allow consumers to vote with their dollars for devices that are easier to use, have more sophisticated search functions, and integrate multiple sources of programming.”

Cable and satellite companies, movie studios and other major media companies allege “Unlock the Box” rules will lead to unauthorized access to their content, and that building tools for finding and viewing TV content should require permission.

This is nonsense, EFF told the FCC today. The proposed rules don’t permit consumers to access content they haven’t paid for or authorize copying or distribution of TV programming. Copyright laws don’t give rightsholders the power to control the features of your home video devices, or to dictate how you can find and watch the programming that you pay for.

EFF is also urging the FCC to ensure that manufactures of new navigation tools are subject to strong privacy standards that will give consumers the same protections they currently have. EFF warned against giving cable and satellite TV companies authority to decide which devices comply with consumer protection rules—this would only give them another opportunity to attempt to control the device market or exclude competition.

“Consumers need privacy protections, and while competitive device makers aren’t subject to FCC regulations we believe they should be subject to the same legal standards for privacy as cable and satellite TV companies,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien. “For too long every effort to improve the pay-TV experience for consumers has been derailed by companies that control set-top boxes. If ‘Unlock the Box’ rules are implemented, consumers will be the winners.”

Contact:
Mitch
Stoltz
Senior Staff Attorney
[email protected]
Lee
Tien
Senior Staff Attorney and Adams Chair for Internet Rights
[email protected]

[Administrator]

China Digital TV Announces Filing of 2015 Annual Report on Form 20-F
BEIJING, April 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STV) ("China Digital TV" or the "Company"), the leading provider of cloud-based application platforms and conditional access ("CA") systems which enable China's digital cable television market to offer and secure diversified content services, today announced that it has filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 on Form 20-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 22, 2016. The 2015 Form 20-F can be accessed on China Digital TV's investor relations website at http://ir.chinadtv.cn. Shareholders may also request a hard copy of the Company's complete audited financial statements, free of charge, by contacting the Company at [email protected].

About China Digital TV

Founded in 2004, China Digital TV enables television network operators to manage, extend and diversify content services across households and public areas in China. China Digital TV is the leading provider of cloud-based application platforms and network broadcasting platform services to Chinese cable operators, helping them to effectively bring mobile gaming apps and other entertainment options to household television sets, and extend cable programming outside the home to any mobile device. China Digital TV is also the leading provider of CA systems in China's digital television market. CA systems enable television network operators to secure the delivery of content to their subscribers. The Company cooperates with nearly all of China's cable television operators.

For more information please visit the Investor Relations section of China Digital TV's website at http://ir.chinadtv.cn.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd.
Nan Hao
Investor Relations Manager
Tel: +86-10-6297-1199 x 9780
Email: [email protected]

ICR, Inc.
Charles Eveslage
Tel: +1 (646) 328-1950
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://ir.chinadtv.cn

[Administrator]

Almost a third of UK adults feel quality of TV has got worse
Research from Ofcom has found that opinions among UK adults on the quality of television programming have remained unchanged since 2014.
The UK TV regulator’s annual UK Audience Attitudes Towards Broadcast Media report explores UK adults’ attitudes and opinions towards television and radio broadcasting, and related areas such as programme standards, advertising and regulation. It found that in 2015 half of viewers (50%) feel that the quality of programming has stayed about the same but that almost a third (30%) felt that programming quality had worsened in 2015.

The main reasons for the drop in quality were: more repeats, a lack of variety and an overall lack of quality. A minority of adults (17%) felt that programme quality had improved in 2015. Levels of personal offence resulting from seeing something on television, remained relatively low, at a fifth of adults.

The top three types of content that were most likely to cause offence to viewers were: sexual content (38%), violence (37%) and bad language (37%). Among those offended, the most common reaction towards the offensive material was to switch over to a different channel (50%).

Ofcom also found that opinions around the amount of offensive content acceptable to viewers have changed over recent years, with more adults considering there to be acceptable levels of sexual content, violence and bad language on TV.

[Administrator]

4K: the prospects

4K still has a two to three year incubation period ahead before it starts to break through from 2015 onwards.

However, according to new research from Futuresource Consulting, it is already making its presence known and is on track to become a significant technology segment.
Indeed, global 4K shipments will grow from just 62,000 units last year to 780,000 in 2012 and 22 million in 2017.
Sales will be boosted from 2015 onwards by the arrival of native 4K content and increased consumer awareness.
Although China is currently at the forefront of 4K rollout, driven by relatively low-priced sets from its major domestic brands, Futuresource expects most global TV brands to launch a range of 4K TVs by the end of this year, with North America tipped to be a key market due to strong consumer appetite for large screens.


According to Simon Bryant, head of consumer electronics at Futuresource, “LCD TV panel manufacturers anTV brands have been looking for the next hot trigger to accelerate flat panel replacement. 3D in the home was an attempt to achieve this and it has yet to become the solid success that many had hoped for.
“4K represents a more natural progression for the industry, but one that brings its own challenges, not least the intricacies of producing 4K panels at high yield rates and the complexities of delivering the bandwidth-hungry content. Substantial compression improvements provided by the HEVC codec will smooth the way for broadcast, and although the real-time encoding required for live transmission is still embryonic, solutions are being trialled and evaluated.”


Looking at the global TV market as a whole, Futuresource says it will return to growth in 2013 after shipments fell by 6% last year, with growth continuing until 2017. By then, annual shipments will exceed 270 million units, with emerging markets accounting for 67% of the total.

[Administrator]

U.S. FCC chief to unveil revised plan to eliminate cable boxes
The top U.S. communications regulator plans on Thursday to unveil a revised plan to allow about 100 million pay TV subscribers to replace expensive set-top boxes with less-costly apps that provide access to television and video programs, two people briefed on the plan said.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed in January opening the $20 billion cable and satellite TV set-top box market to new competitors and allow consumers to access multiple content providers from a single app or device.

The plan, aimed at breaking the cable industry's long grip on the lucrative pay TV market and lowering prices for consumers, drew fierce opposition from TV and content providers, including AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc.

The FCC has said Americans spend $20 billion a year to lease pay-TV boxes, or an average of $231 annually. Set-top box rental fees have jumped 185 percent since 1994, while the cost of TVs, computers and mobile phones has dropped 90 percent, the FCC has estimated.

The pay TV industry raised concerns over copyright, content licensing and privacy issues and made a counterproposal in June, offering to commit to creating its own apps to allow consumers to watch programs without needing to lease a box.

Wheeler's revised plan is expected to include some components of the pay TV industry's proposal, and to exempt some smaller cable providers from the new requirements. The plan is also expected to create a licensing body to oversee the pay-TV apps, according to industry filings with the FCC.

The revised application-based proposal is expected to come before the five-member commission for a vote on Sept. 29 at the commission's next meeting, the sources briefed on the matter said.
Kim Hart, a spokeswoman for Wheeler, declined to comment.

Disney, CBS, Viacom, Time Warner Inc, Scripps Networks Inc and others met with Wheeler aides last week to discuss "a revised approach... that would ensure that all of programmers' valuable content would remain inside of, and under the control of, apps developed exclusively by" cable and other pay-TV providers, according to a filing with the FCC this week.

These companies fear that rivals like Alphabet Inc or Apple Inc could create devices or apps and insert their own content or advertising in cable content.

Wheeler's January proposal would create a framework for device manufacturers and software developers to produce a single device or app to gain access to content from providers such as Netflix Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Hulu, Alphabet's YouTube and a pay-TV company.

Wheeler has an aggressive agenda in the final months of the Obama administration. He wants the FCC to finalize a proposal to ensure privacy for broadband Internet users by barring providers from collecting user data without consent. He also wants to complete reforms of the $40 billion annual market for business data services known as special access lines. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usa-regul ... KA?rpc=401

[Administrator]

The government’s top TV regulator just announced its plan to free you from your cable box

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Millions of Americans fork over, on average, more than $230 a year to rent set-top boxes from cable and other pay television providers, and the government's top television regulator revealed its final proposal Thursday to loosen the cable industry's tight grip on those devices.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the proposal would require major cable and satellite operators to develop free apps that customers could use to access the companies' content through alternative devices such as Apple TV or Amazon's Fire TV. (Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

"We were motivated by the desire to give consumers relief, but we were also mandated to take action by Congress and the law, which says that consumers should be able to choose their preferred device to access pay-TV programming," wrote Wheeler in a Los Angeles Times op-ed Thursday.

Under the terms of the plan, pay television providers such as Comcast and Verizon would also have to provide a way that allowed consumers to search for the content that they want, all in one place. In other words, the search results could include the broadcast stations and streaming services that offer the content. Some smaller companies will be exempt, but the largest corporations, which currently serve 95 percent of pay-TV subscribers, will have two years to comply, according to an agency fact sheet.

The proposal is also calling for a commission that would come up with a standard license for device makers that want to offer the apps. That body would be made up of representatives from the content and pay television industries and would craft general rules for things like protecting the privacy of viewers. But the FCC would have oversight of that licensing commission under Wheeler's proposal, "to ensure that nothing in the standard license will harm the marketplace for competitive devices," according to the agency.

Earlier in the year Wheeler had initially proposed a more radical approach, suggesting that the government require cable and satellite providers to make their channels available to anyone who wants to make a new user interface for it. The cable industry balked at the idea, later countering with an app-based approach similar to the one in Thursday's proposal.
But that doesn't mean that the pay-TV industry is necessarily on board with the new proposal. In comments filed with the agency earlier this week, a number of major cable companies already pushed back against the proposed centralized licensing system, calling it "unnecessary and unworkable."

Industry group Future of TV Coalition also criticized FCC plan's licensing approach in a post released Thursday on Medium shortly before the proposal was unveiled, arguing that it is "an overly complex Rube Goldberg approach to app licensing that will only hurt consumers by creating barriers to innovation and delaying the transition to apps and new set top box alternatives that is already underway."

However, consumer advocates praised the proposal.

"It would save consumers billions," said John Bergmayer, a senior staff attorney with Public Knowledge.

The plan will be up for a vote at the FCC's Sept. 29 public meeting.

[Administrator]

FCC revises set-top box proposal
The FCC backtracks on its controversial set-top proposal, and in a compromise, will require cable operators and other pay-TV providers to offer apps that provide access to TV content.
US regulators have revised a proposal that's supposed to free consumers from set-top box rental fees after months of criticism from the cable industry.

On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested new rules that would allow consumers to ditch their traditional cable boxes and instead access their pay-TV service through an app on devices like a Roku, Apple TV, Xbox One, smart TVs, or iOS and Android phones or tablets. The proposal also requires that cable operators and other companies offering pay-TV service integrate search for their programing with content found through apps, like Hulu and Netflix, so that consumers can search across apps for TV shows and movies.

The new plan is a compromise that takes into account the industry's criticisms of an earlier proposal that required pay-TV providers to adopt a new technology standard to allow device makers to access TV content for free.

"If adopted, these consumer-first rules would pave the way for a competitive marketplace for new devices that enhance the TV-watching experience," Wheeler said in a blog post. "Bottom line: consumers will no longer have to rent a set-top box just to watch the programming they already pay for."

The FCC's original "Unlock the Box" proposal, introduced in February, had been pitched as a way to give consumers cheaper and more innovative alternatives to the set-top boxes available from their cable companies. Today, 99 percent of pay-TV subscribers rent set-top boxes and spend an average of $231 a year to lease these devices, according to a congressional study.

But critics, such as the cable companies and Roku, a maker of streaming-video devices, argued an FCC mandate on set-top boxes could add costs, threaten consumer privacy and hurt smaller content producers. They also argued the rules were unnecessary since the market was moving away from a box in favor of apps that run on mobile devices, gaming consoles and TVs.

The new rules take these issues into account. Lawmakers, such as Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) who helped write the 1996 Telecommunications Act and is a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, applauded the FCC's efforts.

"Consumers have been waiting for twenty years for a truly competitive and robust set-top box marketplace that puts an end to exorbitant cable box rental fees, and the FCC's order represents the dawn of a new era," he said in a statement. "The FCC is using authority clearly provided by Congress to better allow consumers to choose which device to watch programming for which they have already paid."

While some cable companies, such as Comcast, have already developed apps that allow customers to access their TV service on devices other than set-top boxes, critics say the FCC's new proposal is still flawed because it gives the FCC oversight over how pay-TV providers and content owners strike programming deals. In a blog post Thursday, The Future of TV Coalition, a group created by the pay-TV industry to fight these new rules, said that like the FCC's original mandate, the new rules would violate copyright law and "would wrongly and unlawfully empower the FCC to dictate content licensing terms."

The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal at its open meeting on September 29.

[Administrator]

TiVo's next-gen interface plays nice with all your TV content

With TiVo's Series 1 DVRs going extinct at the end of the month and new parent company Rovi taking over, the TiVo brand is getting an interface refresh to bring it up to day with people's current viewing habits. (As well as the FCC's proposed set-top box rules.) The next-generation user interface is designed to allow for even better TV content discovery and predictions, a customizable viewing experience and overall less time spent fiddling with the remote.

"We are transforming TV viewing into an easy, personalized experience," TiVo's Chief Design Officer Margret Schmidt said in a statement. "The new UX brings the content the viewer wants right up front faster through expanded discovery and predictions from their own cable subscription and the best online video sources. In short, we designed this UX so the viewer spends less time searching channel guides and opening apps and more time enjoying their favorite shows."

In addition to a new look, the interface now includes TiVo's innovative new Prediction technology, which goes a step further than basic recommendations to predict which shows you want to watch right at that moment. And, because no one watches content from just one source anymore, the new TiVo UX is designed to pull in everything from cable or broadcast TV to On Demand and streaming options.

On the down side, there's no word yet when exactly this update will come to TiVo's hardware -- and Rovi has a history of showing off next-gen guides that don't ever get a real release -- but now that the two companies have joined forces it's much more likely to see the light of day. For now, however, TiVo will be showing off the interface at the IBC Conference on media and entertainment.

[Administrator]

STB boost for Russian IPTV

Rostelecom-CC.jpg

Russia’s Rostelecom plans to buy 450,000 set-top boxes for its Interactive TV service.

According to ComNews, they will be purchased from the company Promsvyaz, with the initial contract being for $13.5 million.

It adds that Promsvyaz is one of the last companies to be still producing boxes with the STMicroelectronics 7105 chip.

The TV Interactive service has been the driver of Rostelecom’s business for the last few years.

As of the end of 2016 it had 4.2 million subscribers, or 24% more than a year earlier.

Currently, it accounts for almost 70% of Russia’s IPTV market.

[Administrator]

Ooredoo Oman launches Multiscreen TV with Netgem
Ooredoo is to deploy Netgem’s multiscreen TV-as-a-service in Oman.

It’s the first deployment in the Middle East for the French developer.

The Netgem-powered multiscreen TV-as-a-service will enable Ooredoo Oman to offer its customers a range of programming, including English and Arabic channels, and VOD services.

Sylvain Thevenot, Managing Director Netgem #TelcoTV Services said: “This is the first deployment of our TV-as-a-Service solution in the Middle-East, and reinforces that our cloud-based technology is the platform of choice to rapidly launch powerful entertainment services. With our award-winning user interface now adapted to support mixed Arabic and European content, we are looking forward to further deployments in the region.’’

Johan Buse, Chief Commercial Officer at Ooredoo, added: “We are very excited to unveil Ooredoo TV, which is powered by Netgem, and give consumers in Oman a simple and seamless way to stream their favourite content direct to their mobile phones. This is a step change in the way people access TV content and we are happy to be at the forefront of a new digital experience.”

Ooredoo Group supplies 138 million customers across North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.