FCC approves more CA-integrated cable boxes

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Pace Americas, Inc. (LSE:PIC) and Thomson, Inc. (Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) have received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a waiver of the ban on cable set-top boxes (STBs) with integrated conditional access.

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