Moving Past CableCARD

Recent news has made it clear that it’s only a matter of time until CableCARD technology meets its ultimate demise. It’s an outdated technology that simply has not kept up with the times and is actually hindering the natural progression of the industry, which is increasingly leaning towards mobile.

While there was reason for CableCARD implementation in the first place, the industry’s technology has advanced and most MSOs are ready to move on. Security was one of the primary reasons CableCARD was introduced and there are currently a plethora of more effective offerings available. Downloadable conditional access solutions, for example, eliminate the need for CableCARDs while maintaining condition access (CA) independence and have been deployed for many years.

Two available solutions that utilize downloadable conditional access strategies are OMS and XCAS. Check out their respective merits below.

Open Media Security (OMS) – Already deployed in North America since 2010, OMS can support a variety of CA systems, however they must conform to the OMS Key Ladder. A key benefit of OMS is that it allows for multiple companies to provide solutions and maintains interoperability between CA and the STB. OMS is already proven an effective alternative to CableCARD.

Exchangeable Conditional Access Solution (XCAS) – Developed in Korea and deployed internationally by many service providers, CA systems and STB manufacturers, XCAS uses KLAD

technology and offers more flexibility than the OMS as well as some additional security, though            at the cost of some added complexity.

There are additional CA strategies that do not offer the benefit of being downloadable. One strategy involves Digital Transport Adapters (DTAs). DTAs have recently seen improvements to allow some interactivity but they are still much simpler and less powerful than STBs. DTAs are currently prohibited under the FCC’s Integration Ban but an active petition is seeking to change this.

There are many alternatives at the ready to be widely adopted once CableCARD requirements are officially removed, which is likely to happen in September when the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization Act of 2014, also known as STELA, goes before the Senate. The bottom line is that it’s time for CableCARD to go and for widespread adoption of other, more effective strategies, like OMS and XCAS, to take place.

Are CableCARDS Going Away?

This is a quick question and answer conducted with Alticast CTO, John Carlucci.  To give you a little background, please refer to this link below:

The Hill reports that STELA legislation in congress would remove the requirement for use of CableCards in operators leased devices. (http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/199385-overnight-tech-satellite-bill-in-the-works)

A few questions:

What does removal of integration ban mean?

Operators no longer have to use CableCARD.

Why is that good?

CableCARDs are based on technology from the 1990s. They are large, expensive, consume a lot of power, and need to be physically installed into STB.

Why is this bad?

CableCARDs provided a simple means to integrate Content Protection into a STB and allowed operators to obtain and rapidly deploy STB from many suppliers, not just from CA providers. They also allowed migration to a common security when operator systems merge.

What you should know?

Downloadable conditional access solutions that eliminate the need for CableCARDs while maintaing CA independence have been deployed for many years.  In North America,  Cablevision has been deploying such a solution based on open standards since 2010. Alticast was fortunate to play a critical role in the deployment.  Alticast can provide easy software based content protection download of any conditional access into any STB.