GigaOM » Selectable Output Control

The Return of DRM

Paul Sweeting — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 20:00:12 +0000

Not long ago, digital rights management and copy protection seemed to be on their last legs. But DRM is poised to make a major comeback, and copy restrictions could soon be a bigger of TV viewing than ever.

A Brighter Week Ahead for Flash

Paul Sweeting — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:00:55 +0000

The growing anti-Apple alliance between Google and Adobe is likely to extend beyond mobile devices and apps, however. One collaboration that is surely in the works, even if its not ready to be announced this week, is the integration of Flash into Google’s new Smart TV platform

For Hollywood, The VOD Price Is Right

Paul Sweeting — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:00:32 +0000

The Federal Communications Commission handed the major Hollywood studios a significant victory last week, granting their long-pending petition to allow use of selectable output controls (SOC) on cable and satellite set-top boxes to prevent copying of early-release video-on-demand movies. The studios’ push for the new early VOD window is of a piece with those other efforts to raise home-entertainment prices. Compared with current VOD offerings, the new early-window movies are likely to carry a very premium price, probably closer to the purchase price of a Blu-ray disc than to a DVD rental.

Fight Over “Selectable Output Control” DRM Heats Up

Chris Albrecht — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:41:30 +0000

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the advocacy group Public Knowledge sent tit-for-tat letters to the FCC yesterday over the issue of Selectable Output Control (SOC). The MPAA has petitioned for waiver on the FCC’s ban of SOC, which would allow analog outputs from consumer electronics devices to be disabled, and, by extension, would prevent people from watching certain content unless they had special digital inputs on their TV sets.

The MPAA says that enabling Selectable Output Control would help stem piracy and would allow studios to release movies on VOD sooner after they appear in theaters.

Public Knowledge doesn’t buy that argument and sees the issue as a matter of control over what kind of TV you can use. It sent a letter to FCC Genachowski asking the Commission to deny the MPAA the waiver. Public Knowledge wrote:

[O]ver the past year, the MPAA has failed to provide a reason as to why the limited interests of its six member movie studios should be allowed to outweigh the interests of those consumers that will be forced to replace over 20 million television sets and countless other devices in order to view content that their current equipment is capable of displaying.

In its response, the MPAA sent its own letter (PDF) to the FCC and wrote:

[G]rant of the waiver would for the first time allow millions of consumers to view high- value, high-definition theatrical films during an early release window that is not available today. MPAA has explained that release of this high-value content as part of an earlier window, especially with respect to movies released for home viewing close to or even during their initial theatrical run, necessarily requires the highest level of protection possible through use of SOC.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.