Cable MSOs Get A Week’s Reprieve from New FCC Rules

Remember the new FCC rules which, among other things, mandated CableCARD self-installs starting August 1st? Well, due to a technicality, they’re now going into effect August 8th instead. Basically, while meant for August first, they take effect 30 days after final publication – which didn’t happen until July 8th. So MSOs get an extra week to figure out how to comply.

I’ve seen other sites reporting that this means MSO’s will not need to allow CableCARD self-installs until November 1st – but that’s not accurate. The original rule making was that MSOs which allow any form of self-install, such as a cable box or cable modem, must allow CableCARD self-installs as of August 1st – that date is now August 8th. It also required MSOs which did not allow self-installs to begin allowing CableCARD self-installs as of November 1st – and that date remains. Since nearly all MSOs allow some self-installs the August 8th date applies to them. Here’s the details right out of the FCC rule making – with emphasis added by me:

The rules adopted in the Order are effective on August 8, 2011, with two exceptions. First, Section 76.640(b)(4)(iii), which requires cable operators to include a home networking output on high-definition set-top boxes (except for unidirectional, non-recording settop boxes), has an effective date of December 1, 2012. Second, and only with respect to operators that did not previously offer self install for leased boxes or cable modems and needed time to establish the necessary customer support infrastructure, Section 76.1205(b)(1)’s requirement that cable operators provide the means to allow subscribers to self-install CableCARDs becomes effective on November 1, 2011.

So August 8th is the new date for when most cable customers should be able to self-install their own CableCARDs and not pay for a truck roll.

Via Light Reading.