CEA Announces Cable Compatibility Specification for DTV Receivers, Eliminating Set-Top Box Requirement

CEA ANNOUNCES CABLE COMPATABILITY SPECIFICATION


Arlington, Va., November 11, 1999 -- Following extensive discussions with the cable industry, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced yesterday that it had issued a specification for compatibility requirements for digital television (DTV) receivers and digital cable systems. This specification, when implemented, will allow Americans to receive in-the clear, premium and pay-per-view digital cable programming on their DTV receivers, as well as todayís basic cable analog channels, all without the need for a set-top box.

"This specification represents a considerable achievement and is a major step toward cable-compatible DTV. It is a pro-consumer specification that will allow Americans to receive popular cable services directly though their DTV receivers without the need for a cable set-top box," stated CEA President Gary Shapiro.

Shapiro indicated that the specification was in harmony with the network interface

(OCI-N) and point of deployment (POD) specifications recently released by CableLabs which seek to describe how a cable system will send its digital signals to DTV sets. Shapiro also emphasized that with the new specification, copy protection is assured on cable-compatible DTV sets.

Shapiro pointed out that there remain some areas where the cable and consumer electronics industries disagree, most notably with regard to cable's insistence that an IEEE 1394 set-top box interface be included on every DTV set.

"Our industry developed 1394, and manufacturers will produce 1394 equipped sets for consumers who want them," said Shapiro. "At the same time, it doesn't make sense to include a 1394 set-top box interface on every DTV set, since more than 50 percent of consumers today prefer to attach their cable directly to their set without a box. We don't want to broaden the digital divide by forcing Americans to pay more for every DTV set to get features they may not want or use".

Shapiro noted that the specifications merely mark the first step in defining the basis of a range of future cable-compatible products.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the cable industry to develop further specifications that bring new capabilities ñ such as full two-way, interactive services - to American consumers," stated Shapiro.

In anticipation of these developments, CEA announced the formation of a new engineering committee, R-8 (Cable Compatibility).

"The scope of this committee is to establish standards and bulletins necessary for the purpose of defining connectivity and interoperability between digital cable systems, cable compatible DTV receivers and related consumer electronics devices,î said Ralph Justus, acting department head of Technology and Standards for CEA.

The inaugural meeting of the committee is set for Wednesday, December 8, 1999 in Washington, D.C. All potentially affected industry segments are invited to send technical representatives to participate. For more information on R-8, please visit www.cemacity.org.

CEA (formerly CEMA) is a sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), the 75-year-old Arlington, Virginia-based trade organization representing all facets of electronics manufacturing. CEA represents more than 500 U.S. manufacturers of audio, video, accessories, mobile electronics, communication, information technology and multimedia products that are sold through consumer channels.

CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES ñ Your Source for WorkstyleTM and Lifestyle Technology. All profits from CES are reinvested into industry services, including technical training and education, product promotion, engineering standards development, market research, and governmental and legal affairs support.