In December, we still weren't there yet, so I asked the Commission's top engineer, Dale Hatfield, to convene a group from NCTA, CEA, OpenCable and others to identify the last remaining issues and to resolve them. And now here we are, in the year 2000, six years after industry first asked the Commission to refrain from acting and there is no resolution. And yet six years later, we have still not resolved the compatibility issues. This will mark an early opportunity for consumers to see first hand that industry has addressed at least some of the compatibility issues. I was pleased to hear from Dick Green at Cable Labs that we appear to be on track to meet the July 1 deadline.
Copy protection is another major sticking point.
Just look at the explosion of DVD sales now that Hollywood is making product available for that market. I appreciate the need for content owners to protect their product in the digital world. But this problem has to be solved. And it can be solved. Here too, the Commission has encouraged negotiations between content providers and distributors and CE manufacturers.