Downloadable Access Schemes In the Works
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 4/1/2007 8:00:00 PM
Motorola and Scientific Atlanta plan to deliver proprietary downloadable set-top security technologies in the first half of 2008, in advance of the CableLabs-led effort to establish a vendor-neutral specification.
While Motorola and SA said they continue to support the CableLabs effort — called Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS) — they've positioned their own systems as helping tide operators over until DCAS is widely available in 2009.
On March 20, Motorola met with Federal Communications Commission officials to discuss Downloadable MediaCipher (DM), a version of Motorola's conditional-access system.
“Motorola developed DM as an interim solution for downloadable security until DCAS is ready,” the company said, in a statement. “We hope that our operator customers will see DM as a useful security alternative.”
Motorola spokeswoman Amy Valli said Downloadable Media Cipher will become commercially available to operators in the first half of 2008. Similarly, Scientific Atlanta's downloadable PowerKey security solution will be available to operators by early 2008, director of public relations Sara Stutzenstein said.
That's at least six months after the FCC-imposed July 1, 2007, deadline requiring all newly deployed cable set-tops to have a separable security mechanism. For the near future, that means set-tops will need to have removable CableCard devices, but cable operators would like to deploy less-expensive downloadable security.
On Jan. 10, the FCC released a public notice “clarifying that cable operators preferring not to employ CableCards may use a downloadable conditional-access solution to comply with our rules.”
In that notice, the agency cited Beyond Broadband Technology, a virtual company formed by three small cable operators, which has developed its own downloadable-security scheme.
Motorola said DM will work with any digital set-top deployed in a cable system that uses MediaCipher for conditional access, and said it hopes to license DM to consumer-electronics makers to incorporate in products like TV sets.
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