[DonK]

The biggest reason why cablecard isn't becoming as widespread as it should is that Cable Labs doesn't want it to in the first place. We were supposed to have cablecard in wide circulation over 5 years ago and how long has it taken for it to even be *offered* by most cable companies?

I've said it before, there needs to be congressional, FCC, or justice dept intervention to break the cable labs monopoly on the market.

The whole MCE/Cablecard tying because of their massively consumer UN-friendly DRM requirements is a blantant thumb in the nose of the government, imho.

They don't like the fact that people (by law) now can have their own cable boxes and are required to provide the decryption (cable cards) instead of raking people for monthly fees on a box. It's a cash cow that they are refusing to give up on, and are using as a tool to force their revenue models and impede innovation.

If you think about it, how long does someone usually keep the same cable box, and how much are they paying monthly vs the actual price to outright purchase the boxes?