Altice USA's 'PowerKEY' CableCARDs will soon go on the blink

The hits keep coming for the much-maligned CableCARD.

The latest operator to add a line to the ongoing eulogy of the CableCARD is Altice USA. The New York-based operator is alerting customers that their "PowerKEY" CableCARDs, including those currently slotted into TiVo DVRs that can double as digital cable set-tops, will become inoperable in October.

Altice USA is directing those customers to alternative ways to access the operator's pay-TV service, including Apple TV boxes and iOS and Android mobile devices (via the Optimum TV app) and Optimum Stream, a relatively new Android TV-powered streaming device from Altice USA. After initially offering Optimum Stream in its systems in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, Altice USA has since extended access to its more rural systems in the former Suddenlink footprint. Altice USA is also using Optimum Stream to distribute a new entertainment-focused pay-TV package consisting of 80-plus channels for $30 per month.

The PowerKEY conditional access system was originally developed by Scientific-Atlanta. Pictured is a CableCARD equipped with PowerKEY security. (Source: Petiatil/Wikimedia Commons)

"In October 2024, your PowerKey CableCARDs will be outdated and stop working," the company explained in a recent letter to customers, according to posts on Reddit and DSL Reports. Per the letter, Altice USA currently is providing the first Optimum Stream device for free to affected customers.

Related:Doomsday clock ticks for millions of 'PowerKEY' set-tops

CableCARDs are removable security modules used to authorize access to QAM-based digital cable services on certain TiVo DVRs sold at retail and distributed by cable operator partners, a select number of older digital cable-ready TVs with CableCARD slots and a few PC-TV CableCARD tuners that got into the market. US cable operators have also distributed millions of CableCARDs in leased, operator-supplied digital cable set-tops.

CableCARDs became the go-to for many US cable operators (and Verizon for its older QAM-based boxes for Fios TV) in the wake of an FCC mandate that required operators to use separable security in their own set-tops in the hopes that it would establish a technical baseline to help spur a retail market for cable video devices. The FCC's mandate went live in July 2007 and largely failed to drive a vibrant retail market. The FCC terminated the mandate in September 2020.

PowerKEY CableCARDs use conditional access systems originally developed by Scientific-Atlanta, which was sold to Cisco in 2005. Cisco later sold its consumer premises equipment (CPE) business to what is now Vantiva and sold its video software business to what is now Synamedia.

PowerKEY needs a fix to extend its life

Altice USA's letter to customers did not elaborate on why PowerKEY CableCARDs will become inoperable in October. However, the company confirmed that the situation stems from a broader issue that's poised to cause millions of older set-tops with PowerKEY security to go on the blink because their internal clocks will roll over in November 2024. The limitation of those internal clocks are due in part to memory limitations in the secure microprocessors that keep time.

Related:Time warp could cause millions of old 'PowerKEY' set-tops to go on the blink

Industry sources have told Light Reading that as many as 20 million set-tops and other devices that use PowerKEY could face extinction by this November without a fix.

Vantiva, Synamedia and Adara Technologies have developed remedies that can salvage a sizable portion of those older PowerKEY devices. Adara, for example, has developed a way to spoof the controller time clock so that the underlying conditional access system does not time out.  Adara CEO Joseph Nucara told Light Reading recently that an unnamed Tier-1 North American cable operator along with dozens of Tier-2/3 operators are working with the company to help salvage their PowerKEY devices.

However, it's also clear that some operators, including Altice USA, are content to let PowerKEY run its course and instead ask customers to swap in new IP- and app-based streaming alternatives. Potentially disruptive, this rip-and-replace approach carries some risk as some affected customers might leave and sign up with a competing pay-TV service provider.

Related:CableCARD era at Comcast is drawing to a close

Some are already heading in that direction.

An Altice USA customer with a TiVo box equipped with a PowerKEY CableCARD posted on Reddit that the operator offered an upgrade to a 500 Mbit/s fiber broadband service, six Optimum Stream devices and access to its premium cloud DVR service, but the overall cost would rise by $68 per month. "I will keep TV service with Optimum until October when the CableCARDs stop working, and then cancel TV with them and switch to something else," the customer explained.

Altice USA, like other cable operators, is already losing pay-TV subscribers. It lost 72,000 residential video subs in Q2, lowering its total to 2.02 million. The company did not say how many of those customers are exposed to the PowerKEY CableCARD issue.

"Optimum is committed to providing our customers with the best entertainment experience possible. In anticipation of the upcoming PowerKEY clock 'timeout' this November, we have been actively working with the vast majority of impacted pay-TV customers across our footprint to address each of their unique needs," an Altice USA official said via email. "This includes deploying updates on eligible equipment or offering potential alternatives such as receiving newer equipment from Optimum, including our new Optimum Stream device, or using the Optimum app on Apple TVs – all to ensure their TV service will not be affected … If customers have any questions or need assistance related to their TV service, they can reach out to Optimum customer service for support."

Cable's video QAM systems have entered their final chapter

Other operators are in a similar boat when it comes to legacy, QAM-based video technologies and systems.

Comcast, for example, recently told its customers that it will no longer provide new CableCARDs to new and existing pay-TV customers starting October 24. Charter Communications made a similar decision in 2022.

And PowerKEY isn't alone. Cable video headend systems that still use Digicipher, the original GI/Motorola conditional access system that made up the other half of the old digital cable duopoly, are at risk of becoming inoperable in the coming months due to a "hard code date" of January 1, 2025.

CommScope, which currently manages those Digicipher assets, has developed a patch for that headend component – known as the digital access controller, or DAC – to resolve the issue.