Downloadable Conditional Access System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:20, 19 February 2007

Revision as of 14:59, 20 February 2007

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== Consumer Issues ==

Early and present adopters of cable High Definition have seen their cable bills skyrocket. The reason is two-fold. First, HD content has a price. Second, and more relevent to DCAS is because early adopters have been forced monopolistically to rent cable boxes, CableCardscableCards, and remotes from cable companies just to view digital content. CableCards v1.0 if used in place of a cable boxes do reduce cable bills, by lowering rental fees. CableCard v2.0 will reduce costs further, along with providing 2-way communication for VOD, PPY, programing information, etc. DCAS will entirely elimanate need for cards.

On July 1, 2007 consumers will be able to purchase third pary DVRs, and TVs and, view digital cable without having to rent hardware from the cable company. Increased competition gives consumers better price and products. For example, say a cable subsriber is currently paying $20/month for cable boxes/dvr/remotes. On 7/1/07 he has the option to cut this cost, but will have to replace with something else, say a 3rd party DVR. The prior $20 cable monthly rental fee adds up to $240/year or $480 for 2 years. More likely than not, the subsriber will find a DVR for less than $480, and the subsriber will obtain more features than what cable offered. Then, and here's the good part, after two years the subscriber will pocket $240 every year because he now owns the box.