Chris Blount
04-14-04, 06:30 AM
Starz Encore was recently at the Federal Communications Commission arguing on plug-and-play matters, including its top hot-button issue: The ability to record digital programming in a plug-and-play regime that also mandates copy protection.
Specifically, Starz commented on the Motion Picture Association of America and its effort to get the FCC to reconsider a portion of the plug-and-play order that found subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services should be classified as "undefined business models." With that determination, the FCC said the level of copy protection encoding would be determined initially by the pay-TV distributor offering the service.
MPAA has argued that SVOD services should become a defined business model that could face stiff restrictions such as "copy never," which would prohibit any copying of content under a plug-and-play regime. In a letter sent to the FCC late last week, Starz opposed the MPAA petition, and supported the commission decision to allow for the development of new types of SVOD services by classifying SVOD services as an undefined business model.
Starz also argued that if the commission were to reclassify SVOD as a defined business model, then the service could be encoded no more restrictively as "copy once." And the programmer said if the FCC determines to adopt the "one size fits all" level of copy protection for SVOD as proposed by MPAA, the level of copy protection encoding must be no more restrictive than "copy once."
http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)
Specifically, Starz commented on the Motion Picture Association of America and its effort to get the FCC to reconsider a portion of the plug-and-play order that found subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services should be classified as "undefined business models." With that determination, the FCC said the level of copy protection encoding would be determined initially by the pay-TV distributor offering the service.
MPAA has argued that SVOD services should become a defined business model that could face stiff restrictions such as "copy never," which would prohibit any copying of content under a plug-and-play regime. In a letter sent to the FCC late last week, Starz opposed the MPAA petition, and supported the commission decision to allow for the development of new types of SVOD services by classifying SVOD services as an undefined business model.
Starz also argued that if the commission were to reclassify SVOD as a defined business model, then the service could be encoded no more restrictively as "copy once." And the programmer said if the FCC determines to adopt the "one size fits all" level of copy protection for SVOD as proposed by MPAA, the level of copy protection encoding must be no more restrictive than "copy once."
http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)