Set-top boxes: National Council in favor of free choice of device
Consumers should be able to freely choose their digital cable television receiver. With a motion, the National Council is calling on the Federal Council to provide the legal basis for this.
Consumers should be able to freely choose their digital cable television receiver. With a motion, the National Council is calling on the Federal Council to provide the legal basis for this.
The Council of States criticizes the fact that Cablecom encodes free TV channels and only allows them to be decoded using a set-top box that can be purchased or rented from the company. In the fall of 2007, it therefore passed a motion calling for a ban on encryption or an open standard for operating systems.
At the request of its committee, the National Council approved an amended text on Thursday by 124 votes to 48, as reported by SDA. The Federal Council is to create the legal basis to be able to issue a ban on the encryption of free TV channels. In the case of encryption, customers should be able to choose the reception device under appropriate conditions. At the same time, the newly formulated motion demands that the provision of television programs via Internet Protocol Television IPTV (Swisscom's Bluewin TV) should not be made unnecessarily difficult. Distortions of competition between different technologies should also be avoided as far as possible.
The Council of States criticizes the fact that Cablecom encodes free TV channels and only allows them to be decoded using a set-top box that can be purchased or rented from the company. In the fall of 2007, it therefore passed a motion calling for a ban on encryption or an open standard for operating systems.
At the request of its committee, the National Council approved an amended text on Thursday by 124 votes to 48, as reported by SDA. The Federal Council is to create the legal basis to be able to issue a ban on the encryption of free TV channels. In the case of encryption, customers should be able to choose the reception device under appropriate conditions. At the same time, the newly formulated motion demands that the provision of television programs via Internet Protocol Television IPTV (Swisscom's Bluewin TV) should not be made unnecessarily difficult. Distortions of competition between different technologies should also be avoided as far as possible.
