CEA Expresses Concern Over FCC Action On DFAST License

Applauds Agency For Initiating Review Of Early Phase-Out Of Bundled Navigation Devices And Recognizing Home Recording Rights

18-Sep-00

The following statement was issued by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro in response to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) announcement of a proposed rulemaking and declaratory ruling in its cable navigation devices proceeding:""We are pleased that the Commission in its actions today appears to recognize that consumers maintain reasonable home recording rights in the digital age. We maintain, however, that the FCC has no legal authority to grant CableLabs permission to mandate copy protection schemes in the Dynamic Feedback Arrangement Scrambling Technique (DFAST) license. We hope that the Commission's actions in this area today and in the future will not limit the usual and customary home recording rights of consumers. In addition, these actions must not allow cable providers to become gatekeepers with the ultimate power to determine the home recording and viewing rights of consumers. Specifically, cable providers must not be granted the ability to prevent consumers from viewing programming for which they have already paid.""We are encouraged that the FCC has determined that the DFAST license must undergo scrutiny. The responsibility now lies with CableLabs to modify the draft license so that it respects the home recording rights of consumers and does not limit the ability of consumer electronics manufacturers to produce and market navigation devices. We look forward to working with CableLabs to develop an agreement that meets these criteria and reporting on our progress to the Commission.""We also are pleased that the Commission has responded to our request to investigate the need to move up the date for phasing out integrated cable boxes. We strongly believe that the phase-out date must be moved to a date earlier than 2005 to meet the Commission's goal of creating a level playing field and fostering a competitive retail market for this equipment. Doing so will allow consumers to buy set-top boxes at retail as Congress intended when it passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act.""The FCC today also defined terms for the labeling to be used to inform consumers about the capabilities of various digital television (DTV) sets to receive digital and interactive DTV services from a digital cable system. While we would have preferred a multi-industry consensus on this issue, and are uncomfortable with a federal agency mandating labels for our products, we recognize that the Commission had a mandate to establish clear labels to minimize consumer confusion. We share the Commission's goal and look forward to reviewing the labels in further detail to ensure that they allow for the development and marketing of a broad range of DTV products.""