[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 47, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 47CFR76.640]



[Page 620-622]

 

                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION

 

                    CHAPTER I--FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

                         COMMISSION (CONTINUED)

 

PART 76_MULTICHANNEL VIDEO AND CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE--Table of Contents

 

                      Subpart K_Technical Standards

 

Sec. 76.640  Support for unidirectional digital cable products on 

digital cable systems.



    (a) The requirements of this section shall apply to digital cable 

systems. For purposes of this section, digital cable systems shall be 

defined as a cable system with one or more channels utilizing QAM 

modulation for transporting programs and services from its headend to 

receiving devices. Cable systems that only pass through 8 VSB broadcast 

signals shall not be considered digital cable systems.

    (b) No later than July 1, 2004, cable operators shall support 

unidirectional digital cable products, as defined in Sec. 15.123 of 

this chapter, through the provisioning of Point of Deployment modules 

(PODs) and services, as follows:

    (1) Digital cable systems with an activated channel capacity of 750 

MHz or greater shall comply with the following technical standards and 

requirements:

    (i) SCTE 40 2003 (formerly DVS 313): ``Digital Cable Network 

Interface Standard'' (incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602), 

provided however that with respect to Table B.11, the Phase Noise 

requirement shall be -86 dB/Hz, and also provided that the ``transit 

delay for most distant customer'' requirement in Table B.3 is not 

mandatory.

    (ii) ANSI/SCTE 65 2002 (formerly DVS 234): ``Service Information 

Delivered Out-of-Band for Digital Cable Television'' (incorporated by 

reference, see Sec. 76.602), provided however that the referenced 

Source Name Subtable shall be provided for Profiles 1, 2, and 3.

    (iii) ANSI/SCTE 54 2003 (formerly DVS 241): ``Digital Video Service 

Multiplex and Transport System Standard



[[Page 621]]



for Cable Television'' (incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602).

    (iv) For each digital transport stream that includes one or more 

services carried in-the-clear, such transport stream shall include 

virtual channel data in-band in the form of ATSC A/65B: ``ATSC Standard: 

Program and System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and 

Cable (Revision B)'' (incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602), when 

available from the content provider. With respect to in-band transport:

    (A) The data shall, at minimum, describe services carried within the 

transport stream carrying the PSIP data itself;

    (B) PSIP data describing a twelve-hour time period shall be carried 

for each service in the transport stream. This twelve-hour period 

corresponds to delivery of the following event information tables: EIT-

0, -1, -2 and -3;

    (C) The format of event information data format shall conform to 

ATSC A/65B: ``ATSC Standard: Program and System Information Protocol for 

Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision B)'' (incorporated by 

reference, see Sec. 76.602);

    (D) Each channel shall be identified by a one- or two-part channel 

number and a textual channel name; and

    (E) The total bandwidth for PSIP data may be limited by the cable 

system to 80 kbps for a 27 Mbits multiplex and 115 kbps for a 38.8 Mbits 

multiplex.

    (v) When service information tables are transmitted out-of-band for 

scrambled services:

    (A) The data shall, at minimum, describe services carried within the 

transport stream carrying the PSIP data itself;

    (B) A virtual channel table shall be provided via the extended 

channel interface from the POD module. Tables to be included shall 

conform to ANSI/SCTE 65 2002 (formerly DVS 234): ``Service Information 

Delivered Out-of-Band for Digital Cable Television'' (incorporated by 

reference, see Sec. 76.602).

    (C) Event information data when present shall conform to ANSI/SCTE 

65 2002 (formerly DVS 234): ``Service Information Delivered Out-of-Band 

for Digital Cable Television'' (incorporated by reference, see Sec. 

76.602) (profiles 4 or higher).

    (D) Each channel shall be identified by a one-or two-part channel 

number and a textual channel name; and

    (E) The channel number identified with out-of-band signaling 

information data should match the channel identified with in-band PSIP 

data for all unscrambled in-the-clear services.

    (2) All digital cable systems shall comply with:

    (i) SCTE 28 2003 (formerly DVS 295): ``Host-POD Interface Standard'' 

(incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602).

    (ii) SCTE 41 2003 (formerly DVS 301): ``POD Copy Protection System'' 

(incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602).

    (3) Cable operators shall ensure, as to all digital cable systems, 

an adequate supply of PODs that comply with the standards specified in 

paragraph (b)(2) of this section to ensure convenient access to such 

PODS by customers. Without limiting the foregoing, cable operators may 

provide more advanced PODs (i.e., PODs that are based on successor 

standards to those specified in paragraph (b)(2) of this section) to 

customers whose unidirectional digital cable products are compatible 

with the more advanced PODs.

    (4) Cable operators shall:

    (i) Effective April 1, 2004, upon request of a customer, replace any 

leased high definition set-top box, which does not include a functional 

IEEE 1394 interface, with one that includes a functional IEEE 1394 

interface or upgrade the customer's set-top box by download or other 

means to ensure that the IEEE 1394 interface is functional.

    (ii) Effective July 1, 2005, include both a DVI or HDMI interface 

and an IEEE 1394 interface on all high definition set-top boxes acquired 

by a cable operator for distribution to customers.

    (iii) Ensure that these cable operator-provided high definition set-

top boxes shall comply with ANSI/SCTE 26 2001 (formerly DVS 194): ``Home 

Digital Network Interface Specification with Copy Protection'' 

(incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602), with transmission of bit-

mapped graphics optional, and shall support the CEA-931-A: ``Remote



[[Page 622]]



Control Command Pass-through Standard for Home Networking'' 

(incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602), pass through control 

commands: tune function, mute function, and restore volume function. In 

addition these boxes shall support the power control commands (power on, 

power off, and status inquiry) defined in A/VC Digital Interface Command 

Set General Specification Version 4.0 (as referenced in ANSI/SCTE 26 

2001 (formerly DVS 194): ``Home Digital Network Interface Specification 

with Copy Protection'' (incorporated by reference, see Sec. 76.602)).



[68 FR 66734, Nov. 28, 2003]