The 10 largest U.S. cable operators have deployed only 536,000
standalone CableCards to date -- and only 5,000 in the last three months
-- compared with more than 25 million CableCard-enabled set-tops since
July 2007, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association said
in a filing with the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday.
The
FCC has acknowledged the CableCard rule, which forces cable operators
to use the cards in their own set-tops, hasn't achieved the aim of
fostering a competitive market in cable TV navigation devices at retail.
In October, the agency voted unanimously to change the CableCard rules
in the hopes of improving their adoption, including requiring the
option of consumer self-installation of the cards and giving consumers
information on the cost of retail vs. leased boxes.
The NCTA has
argued that the integrated set-top ban should be eliminated,
particularly because the FCC is looking at adopting an "AllVid"
requirement applying to all pay-TV providers that would supersede
CableCards. The trade group said, though, that its members would
continue to support CableCard-based retail devices, such as TiVo DVRs.
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