Full comments are available in PDF format.
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
In the Matter of
Motion Picture Association of America
Petition for Expediated Special Relief
Petition for Waiver of C.F.R. § 76.1903
CSR-7947-Z
MB Docket: No. 08-82
Comments of
Public Knowledge, Consumer Federation of America, Digital Freedom Campaign, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and U.S. PIRG.
Summary
In 2003, the FCC issued an order which, when combined with a Memorandum of Understanding between video distributors and consumer electronics companies, would provide third-party manufacturers with the ability to build devices which could directly receive and decode video from Multichannel Video Programming Distributors (“MVPDs”). In this order, the Commission forbade the use of Selectable Output Control (“SOC”) signals, which would allow content owners and distributors to remotely turn off individual video connections used in televisions and other consumer electronics equipment. In May of 2008, the Motion Picture Association of America (“MPAA” or “Petitioner”) petitioned the Commission to waive these rules to allow movie studios to selectively disable video connections for movies offered via Video on Demand on a more rapid schedule than in the past. Public Knowledge et al. oppose this petition as both unnecessary and contrary to the public interest.
First, granting the waiver will frustrate consumer expectations. Customers of MVPDs have invested thousands of dollars in high definition home electronics equipment with the understanding that it would be able to use all current and future content. If MPAA uses this waiver to minimum effect, millions of viewers will be forced to purchase costly new equipment to view content that their current equipment is quite capable of displaying. Some customers will be able to receive this content, while others will not, simply because of what kind of cable they happen to use between their set-top box and their television. And while MPAA touts this forced upgrade as an advantage, in reality it is both a violation of consumer expectations and an imposition of a large, unnecessary cost on users.
Second, the waiver is unnecessary. Releasing movies to the public at an earlier date is not new and does not qualify as a “new business model.” In reality, shifting the release window is a simply a business decision – and a business decision that other companies have already made. Further, Petitioner has provided no evidence that disabling analog or unprotected digital outputs would have any significant effect on copyright infringement, with or without this change in release window.
Finally, granting the petition will give MPAA members unprecedented and undesirable control over consumer device design. The waiver is not limited to analog outputs, and would allow the selective disabling of any output on MVPD networks. Should the MPAA choose to turn off other types of connections, it will harm even more users. Perhaps worse, it will give content owners the leverage to decide which outputs should be used in consumer electronics. Using this leverage, content owners could force consumer electronics designers and manufacturers to agree to almost any conditions to display SOC content, including design choices which are consumer-unfriendly and which are not driven by reasonable consumer desires or technological considerations.
For these reasons, the FCC should preserve consumer expectations and device manufacturer independence, and deny the MPAA’s petition.
