Very little in life is all bad or all good. Most things have advantages and disadvantages. From a cable operator's perspective, the advantages to subscriber ownership of set-top boxes are primarily economic and potentially customer satisfaction. Certainly, getting the subscriber to pay for the hardware and its maintenance is a real blessing. Also, there is the potential that the subscriber who owns the set-top box will see it as a benefit, rather than as something that gets in the way of TV and VCR features and functions.
Serious hazards arise from subscriber set-top box ownership.
Perhaps the first issue is that of resolution of in-home problems. This service is generously provided and covers not only technical difficulties, but even assistance in usage and user errors such as not checking to see if the set-top box is plugged in. It will be important to advise subscribers who purchase their set-top boxes that this assistance must come from the retailer, the manufacturer, or will be an extra charge when provided by the cable operator. Signal security is a major concern. When the cable operator provides the set-top box, it can decide when signal security has been breached and replace the boxes.