Understand the comment, but that doels go against what they've publically said about moving on from cable cards.
I may have jumped the gun a bit, as there is a right to suspect the cable lobby from playing nicely with consumer rights.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downloadable_Conditional_Access_System
https://www.fcc.gov/dstac
http://www.fiercecable.com/press-re...s-there-no-need-fcc-tech-mandate-bring-pay-tv
There's a lot of distaste for new mandates coming from the cable lobby groups (the NCTA being the largest - the ACA is right there battling for the little guys:
http://www.americancable.org/node/5488).
Of course, they claim they have our interests in their hearts, that they are delivering content to more and more apps and devices and that they're leading the way toward a brighter future, they carry the shining beacon of capitalism and aren't afraid to shoulder that burden.
What they don't say is that of all the ways we can view our content, we can not escape the ads. Is it fair that we wish to avoid ads? Eh, it is what pays for the content the networks produce, but... that's for the other guy to worry about. Most people sit through commercials just fine.
We sure as hell don't have to be among them. Which is why we have DVRs. But not once will the cable lobby ever boast about and introduce new and better ways to access all our paid premium content on consumer DVRs.
What will the new CableCARD replacement, a software-based security package enable for consumer devices? Access to all our paid content on a consumer DVR without the clunky CableCARD interface and Digital Tuning Adapter. We'd still get our VOD and PPV access and all the interactive content the cable company offers to consumers.
Replacements for CableCARD have been promised and investigated and put to committees for years; we were supposed to have something new back before 2008. They discussed AllVid in 2010. Every time, they basically bow to the cable lobby, not implementing anything new, but thankfully not budging much from the current CableCARD standard with consumer protections in mind.
Again, though, I am pretty sure some protections for CableCARD are going out the window. CableCARD adoption is no longer mandated, which means operators do not have to bundle CableCARDs into the devices as a way to separate the security package from the device.
I believe that with that mandate gone, they also do not have to provide a CableCARD rental option, though I may be wrong about that. If so, I haven't heard yet about any operator refusing to rent out new CableCARDs.