FCC approves COSHIP CA-integrated cable boxes

COSHIP Electronics Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen:002052) has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver of the ban on cable set-top boxes (STBs) with integrated conditional access. The approved products are COSHIP’s N5500C and N6600C set-top boxes.

Since July 1, 2007, U.S. cable operators have been banned from putting into service STBs with integrated conditional access, in order to assure the use of a common separated security solution. The objective is to allow consumers the option of purchasing STBs from sources other than their cable operator.

The FCC adopted a streamlined process for the waiver of the integration ban, for one-way, low-cost, limited-capability set-top boxes, after the earlier approval of two boxes from Evolution Broadband, provided that the boxes are no more advanced than those Evolution DMS-1002 and DMS-1002-CA devices.

More: FCC Memorandum Opinion and Order