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 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

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    (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 
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 2004 FR 66734 , Nov. 28, 2003]

                    Subpart L_Cable Television Access