DSTAC Debates Scope of STELAR Mandate
Debate about the scope of the FCC’s Downloadable Security Technological Advisory Committee's effort to recommend a replacement technology for CableCARD dominated its first meeting Monday. While committee members representing Google, Public Knowledge and others discussed replacement technology that could include a user interface and other outputs, cable company officials such as Cablevision Senior Vice President-Engineering and New Technologies Bob Clyne said the committee's recommendation should focus on downloadable security.
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There was also much concern at the meeting about the Sept. 4 deadline for the committee to create a report. The committee's mandate from Congress is to provide a clear recommendation, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the group. Congress ordered the creation of the DSTAC in its Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization.“This is not something that lends itself to 'on one hand and on the other hand,'” Wheeler said. “It's not good enough to come back and say 'we agree, this is really tough.'”
The DSTAC referred to its eventual product as the “black box” for much of the meeting, as a stand-in for any kind of specific technology. Public Knowledge's representative Adam Goldberg said the black box should have the ability to discover what service a customer has and be able to output closed captions, Emergency Alert System and audio and video. The device should follow the model of CableCARD because it has already been successful, said TiVo CTO Joseph Weber. Charter CTO John Rolls said it was important for the eventual technology to be able to handle high quality audio and video, such as UltraHD or its successor.
Concern about whether the DSTAC's product would be a physical device or attachment to a set-top box, multiple such devices, a chip or an app was a theme of the meeting. Comcast Senior Vice President Mark Hess said multiple devices would make it harder for the industry to reduce its power usage.
Committee members were split over whether to consider over-the-top video providers in its deliberations. Though the FCC has issued an NPRM on whether to broaden the category of multichannel video programming distributors to include OTT offerings, it's not resolved. Though Media Bureau Chief Engineer Alison Neplokh said a technology neutral security solution would also apply to OTT offerings, Hess said the committee should actively consider OTT platforms. “I'm not sure how you can not include OTT in the discussion in some meaningful way going forward."
Since the broad goal of the DSTAC is to create “a not unduly burdensome, uniform, and technology- and platform-neutral” downloadable security system, much of the discussion focused on the requirements of the different platforms the system would have to cover. Though cable is moving toward an all-IP network, direct broadcast satellite systems are not likely to do so anytime soon, and that affects how such a security system would work, said Dish Network Director of Standards John Card.
To try to resolve the different platforms issue, the DSTAC created a special working group to study the various ways downloadable security is used in the industry, and planned to have educational presentations on how each industry’s network operates. The group's next meeting is planned for March 24.