Expect your TV bill to jump a few bucks by the end of the year. Citing the "new" CableCARD requirement from the FCC, the cable companies are claiming increased costs from supporting the 11-year-old standard first proposed under the Telecommunications Act of 1996. While most brand new TVs and other video devices include a CableCARD slot, most cable operators are hopelessly clueless on how to get the things to work and many give up in frustration, going back to renting the set-top boxes.
Charter Communications has already applied for and received a waiver for enacting the CableCARD requirements that went into effect on July 1 and Verizon is currently pursuing one for its FIOS operations. Anyone want to take bets on how many other companies are going to apply to be the exception to the rule?
(Read more articles here, here and here.)
