Milton, Ontario - September 24, 2007 - The cable box sitting on top of your television may not be long for this world if Peter Near has anything to say about it. The United States clamped down on cable companies in 1996 and required them to do away with mandatory set-top boxes. This resulted in a wave of new HDTVs, PVRs, and other gadgets that connect directly to digital cable systems south of the border. This is not the case however in Canada, where television lovers must still buy or rent a digital cable terminal from their provider in order to receive a high-definition picture.

The latest crop of digital-cable savvy electronics sport an impressive array of features including the ability to record high-definition TV, transfer recorded TV to an iPod, browse family photos and videos on the big-screen, and rent movies over the internet. As to their availability here in Canada - Microsoft sells their media center products with HD digital cable support disabled in Canada, and Tivo's HD offerings aren't available for sale in this country at all.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telephone Commission (CRTC) is responsible for regulating the cable industry, and has announced that they will be holding hearings in January to review the regulations governing cable distribution in this country. Mr. Near has written to the CRTC formally requesting that they review the issue of set-top-boxes and consider adopting regulations similar to those in the United States which require cable companies to work with third-party consumer electronics.

Mr. Near commented, "I can understand why the cable companies wouldn't embrace this concept - if you can only use their box, then it becomes easier to lock you in to extra paid services like video on demand. But without competition there is no incentive to innovate. What we're left with here in Canada are mandatory cable boxes that funnel profits into one spot while failing to be innovative, failing to provide a smooth user experience, and failing to provide us with any real choice. As someone with a passion for high-tech, frankly I'm disappointed."

The CRTC has requested that comments regarding this matter be sent in by October 9, 2007 and will be considered at the upcoming hearing. A website has been set up at www.dropthebox.ca which provides additional information, including simple instructions and a template that other concerned citizens can use to submit comments to the CRTC. The website also encourages consumers to contact their local member of parliament to request their support for this initiative.

Speaking to the topic of timeframes, Mr. Near stated "There are really two separate types of HDTV signals that we're talking about here - the big broadcast networks that are part of basic cable, and the pay channels that you can only get with premium cable. My proposal requests that just like with basic analog cable, the cable companies send along the broadcast network channels without scrambling them. These channels can be unlocked tomorrow by the cable companies literally with the flip of a switch and most HDTVs will immediately be able to pick them up. The latter category of pay channels will require more work, and I expect it would take several years for Canadian cable companies to implement the technology to encrypt and decrypt these channels without the use of a set-top-box."

In the meantime, he offers this suggestion "Be aware of what's already out there. First, never feel that you have to pay your cable company any extra fees to receive the most popular high-definition channels. By law, basic cable includes your local broadcast stations like CBC, CTV and Global TV in full high definition even though they might not advertise that fact. Second, it may be time to reconsider using an antenna. The US and Canadian broadcast networks have all been told that they need to switch to digital antennas, which means that the airwaves are full of completely free, crystal-clear high definition television signals."

It remains to be seen if the CRTC will consider regulation of set-top boxes, but the movement has already gathered significant interest on blogs and technical web forums. For the most part, Canadians aren't even aware that there is an alternative to the set top box but perhaps that is about to change.

###

For further information: Peter Near, pnear@dropthebox.ca