Studios take steps toward an early high-def VOD window

WASHINGTON—The major studios are working with cable and satellite operators on plans to offer high-definition movies by video-on-demand shortly after their theatrical debut and well ahead of their release on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

News of the studios' plans is contained in a petition filed with the Federal Communications Commission on March 9 by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. The petition seeks a waiver from FCC regulations barring cable and satellite operators from using selectable output controls (SOC) on set-top boxes to turn off unprotected analog connections to a TV set.

The petition says the waiver is necessary so that the “high-value” high-def content can be limited exclusively to digital outputs protected by anti-copying encryption.

The FCC barred the use of output controls in 2003 to prevent cable operators from disadvantaging analog subscribers.

“The [studios] would each like to independently explore partnerships with [cable and satellite operators]—through mutually acceptable business negotiations—to potentially create exciting new services for [cable and satellite] subscribers that will revolutionize home movie viewing,” the petition says. 
“[T]he services would offer high-value, high-definition digital movies to consumers for enjoyment in their homes sometime prior to release on prerecorded media such as DVD…In order to make this extremely high-value content available for in-home viewing at such an early window, protections are necessary to deter unauthorized copying or redistribution of the content.”

Details regarding the new services, such as when they might be available, were not immediately available. Calls to several studios seeking comment were not immediately returned.

The MPAA provided a statement calling the petition, “another step toward creating new, additional choice for high-def customers—one that shows the film industry is serious about embracing new technologies and responding to consumer demand.”

The idea of offering high-def movies at a premium price via VOD ahead of the DVD release is not a new one.

Several studios have been kicking around the idea internally for years, but this is the first time they have gone so far as to ask the MPAA to seek the necessary waiver, suggesting the planning is becoming more concrete.

If the petition is approved, the MPAA statement said, “each film studio will make its own decision about how, when and with which partners it might use this option. Such flexibility would enable individual movie companies to consider using those secure lines to offer consumers first-run, high-definition films directly to their homes, through their cable, satellite or IPTV providers.”

Content protection

The studios’ petition reflects their long-standing concern over the so-called analog hole.

When encrypted digital content is converted to analog for display on analog TV sets, the protective encryption is lost, potentially allowing the analog stream to be captured and recorded.

From there, it can be re-encoded digitally—now without protection—and sent over digital networks such as the Internet.

To stop that, the studios have long sought ways to prevent sending high-value content over analog connections.

As part of what became knows as the FCC’s “plug-and-play” proceeding in 2003, which required cable operators to offer subscribers a cable card as opposed to a set-top box, the commission prohibited the use of selective output controls to block analog outputs.

The prohibition was sought by the Consumer Electronics Assn., representing TV set manufacturers, and consumer advocacy groups, who feared operators would use output controls to disenfranchise analog subscribers to force them into more expensive digital service tiers.

“The Federal Communications Commission currently has in place a general rule that forbids the exclusive use of the most secure connections on an HDTV set to deliver direct-to-the-home, on-demand content,” the MPAA statement said. “But the FCC has made it clear that certain exceptions might be in the public interest. The MPAA is currently seeking such a waiver in order to permit any MPAA studio that has an interest in offering such services to do so.”

There is no formal timeframe within which the commission is required to rule on a petition.

If it chooses to consider the petition it could also seek comments from the public before ruling, a process that could take many months.