Editing CableCARD (section)

== Background ==
The portion of the [[Telecommunications Act of 1996]] which resulted in the creation of CableCARDs is known as Section 629, instructing the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) to:
{{blockquote|...assure the commercial availability to consumers of multichannel video programming and other services offered over multichannel video programming systems, of converter boxes, interactive communications equipment, and other equipment used by consumers to access multichannel video programming and other services offered over multichannel video programming systems, from manufacturers, retailers, and other vendors not affiliated with any multichannel video programming distributor.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/tcom1996.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-12-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050119235910/http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/tcom1996.pdf |archive-date=2005-01-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

Multichannel video programming refers to cable or satellite television. A driving motivation of this passage was to foster the kind of [[consumer choice]]s that resulted after the Federal government landmark [[Carterfone#Landmark regulatory decision|Carterfone ruling]] requiring telephone companies to allow consumers to purchase third-party telephones for attachment to the phone company network. The thought was that consumers would benefit from wider choices due to competition between [[consumer electronics]] (CE) manufacturers unaffiliated with cable companies.<ref>{{cite web | date=2006-08-18 |url= http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/1998/nrcb8013.html  |title=FCC News Report No. CS 98-11 |format=PDF |publisher=FCC |access-date=2006-12-26}}</ref>

The FCC was charged with working with the industry to carry out the directives of the 1996 law. On June 11, 1998, after securing proposals and recommendations from interested parties, the FCC ordered that cable companies would provide a separable security access device by July 1, 2000, which could be used by third-party devices to access digital cable networks.<ref>{{cite web | date=1998-06-24 |url=http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/Orders/1998/fcc98116.pdf |title=First FCC Report and Order:Commercial Availability of Navigation Devices |publisher=FCC |access-date=2006-12-26}}</ref> The separable security device was referred to in FCC regulations as a "Point of Deployment" (POD) module. After many requests for delay from the cable industry, the first CableCARD devices became available from third-party manufacturers in August 2004.

===Integration ban===
A major concern was that cable operators were not motivated to provide efficient security access mechanisms to equipment competitors. To address this, the FCC directed that by January 1, 2005, that cable operators must use the same separable access device available to third-parties and they were banned from providing equipment with an integrated security access mechanism. This rule is usually referred to as the "integration ban", and was unsuccessfully challenged in the courts and petitions to the FCC by the cable operators. The deadline was shifted forward twice until it went into effect on July 1, 2007.<ref>{{cite web | date=2007-07-01 |url=http://news.cnet.com/Set-top+shakeup+is+in+the+cards/2100-1033_3-6194323.html |title=Set-top shakeup is in the cards |publisher=CNET News.com |access-date=2007-07-02}}</ref> The ban on integrated security ended in December 2015.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fold 'Em: CableCARD Mandate Ends This Week|url=http://www.cablefax.com/regulation/fold-em-cablecard-mandate-ends-week|website=Cablefax|access-date=27 January 2017|date=2 December 2015}}</ref>