Rather than formally endorsing any single technology, so far CEMA has chosen to endorse IEEE 1394 as one appropriate input for DTV sets and other devices, and also to endorse 5C as one viable copy-protection solution. The final version of CEMA's standard, EIA 775, was taking shape at year-end 1998. In agreeing on common approaches to 1394 signaling, cable and consumer electronics companies were responding to the urgings of Federal Communications Commission Commissioner William E. Kennard. In a letter sent Oct. 30, heads of CEMA and the National Cable Television Association sought to assure Kennard that agreement on all major issues had been achieved. In implementing the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC in June 1998 ordered cable and consumer electronics companies to come up with a design for removable security PODs by December 1998 and ordered that the cards be made available by MSOs starting no later than July 2000.
PODs contain system-specific codes for access control, security and copy protection.
The spec was slated for formal adoption as a standard, SCTE-DVS 131, in SCTE voting during December 1998. It contains signaling rules that, in particular, prevent the set-top from degrading the digital network's overall activities, Schwartz says. A second, OCI-H1, covers the link between cable headends and external content sources, including digital video programmers and the Internet. It will define data formats for enhanced TV services, such as EPGs, and assist cable operators in preparing to accommodate these data streams, Schwartz says. A third interface, OCI-H2, provides a link to operations centers such as accounting and billing systems.