Verizon Can't Get No Satisfaction
Verizon, which currently uses QIP series boxes from Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), is appealing for an extension until 2010 on high-end integrated security boxes, including models with on-board digital video recorders and high-definition tuners.
As the NCTA reiterated in its filing to the FCC on Monday, Verizon has a permanent waiver for low-end set-tops, provided it goes all-digital by February 2009, and a one-year waiver for HD and DVR boxes.
Verizon wants to satisfy the FCC's separable security requirement with a downloadable conditional access system but indicates that such a system won't be ready a year from now.
It appears that Verizon's massive, fast-tracked, "next-generation" set-top and conditional access RFP isn't on a fast enough track. (See Verizon Set-Top RFP Could Be Worth Billions .)
— Jeff Baumgartner, Site Editor, Cable Digital News