James Delahunty
2 Sep 2009 21:02
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has filed another request for the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to give a waiver on the 2003 "plug and play" order which prohibits altering a video stream to disable the analog or digital signal to consumers home theater equipment. The MPAA first made the request in June 2008, but consumer groups such as Public Knowledge opposed the waiver and former FCC Chair Kevin Martin didn't like the idea either.
The MPAA claims that the waiver, which will allow the use of "selectable output control" (SOC) measures, will enable studios to link up with broadcasters to air pre-DVD releases that will benefit consumers. "Physically challenged or elderly consumers who have limited mobility would have greater choice in movie viewing options," a filing from the trade group reads.
Pro-consumer groups are not convinced however, largely because the use of SOC will inevitable disable some HDTV's in the United States when they try to view such broadcasts. Public Knowledge warned that SOC would, "break all eleven million HDTVs in the US that don't have digital input" and allow the MPAA to control when and how you view content with equipment you have already paid for.
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) went even further and said that as many as 20 million HDTV sets could cease to function as they did when they were bought. Public Knowledge then came back to add that CEA figures are actually a low estimate, because you also have to account for digital video recorders (DVR) and other consumer electronics hardware that can only receive from analog connections.
"At its core, the position of CEA is that technology should be frozen in time, and any new services that require advanced technology should be banned," the MPAA fired back in a meeting with Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. "This position is quite astonishing, coming from an organization that in the past has advocated in favor of technological innovation."
Of course, 2009 brought about a new U.S. Administration, and on the Presidential inauguration day, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps took on the role of acting chairman. In early February, Sony Pictures schooled Copps on the, "advantages of expanded consumer choices in the marketplace" that is says would result from a waiver. Copps' position on the matter is unknown so far.
The MPAA's latest filing now attacks Public Knowledge's 11 million figure (number of would-be-affected HDTV sets in consumers' homes), saying it fails to cite a source and even if it were true, that PK counts homes where there would also be at least one television set that wouldn't be affected by the "protected" broadcasts. The MPAA maintains that the vast majority of consumers would not experience any change from the broadcasts.
The whole situation not only brings up the complications surrounding the protection of digital content and the consumers' rights it might affect in some forms, but also the background fight between consumer electronics companies and content creators about how much influence a content company can have over electronics products.