Devices like TiVo often require multiple CableCard slots to record shows. CableCard is based on PCMCIA. (spine/Flickr)
As awesomely weird as that PCMCIA mouse is, it doesn’t rank as the weirdest use of the PCMCIA standard.
That honor goes to CableCARD, an effort by the Federal Communications Commission to force the cable industry to let customers use third-party boxes for their cable systems. For nearly two decades, the cable industry had to use PCMCIA cards for completely bureaucratic reasons.
At first, there was an air of excitement around this device. In a 2004 article on the phenomenon, which was just getting off the ground, New York Times writer David Pogue noted that the card, which stores subscriber information and the ability to descramble pictures, was ’a bit of circuitry miniaturization that’s about 15 years overdue.”
But it was a complicated road to get to the card, as might be expected, considering the fact that this is the federal government we’re talking about. For one thing, CableCARD entered the market just as PCMCIA was being replaced with the ExpressCard in PCs. And while CableCARDs could be installed in some televisions, the functionality was hobbled at launch, as it only supported one-way communication, meaning you could get standard cable channels, but not video on demand.
The cable industry spent years dragging its feet on the CableCARD, which was bad news for TiVo, the tech company whose entire business model was reliant on customer access to these CableCARDs.
“Over the years we have heard that some consumers have issues breaking through these barriers when all they want to do is enjoy the very best TV experience through TiVo,” the company stated in 2010, as the FCC implemented new rules pushing cable companies to take the CableCARD rules seriously.
It was just one of many headaches around this stupid card. (In 2007, Pogue wrote another article reminding folks that he wrote with excitement about the CableCARD in 2004, only to see the bubble basically burst due to industry inaction.)
So we have this technology which is already based on an old standard, is sort of hobbled, and the cable industry doesn’t really like it.
Which explains why, in 2020, the FCC has finally decided to change course. As reported by Matthew Keys last week, the FCC decided to remove the longstanding requirement that required cable providers to offer CableCARDs to consumers. Had the approach built marketshare, it would have made sense. But in reality, TiVo was kind of out on its own with the CableCARD for much of its history. While there were smaller players like SiloconDust’s HDHomeRun, TiVo was the only one close to mainstream.
“Consumer demand for retail CableCARD devices never developed as anticipated and such demand has declined steadily in recent years due to the growing popularity of [streaming services],” the FCC commissioners said in a statement.
It was perhaps a long time coming: The saga of the CableCARD nearly ended during the Obama administration, but only got picked up once again near the end of Trump’ first (and possibly only) term. The PCMCIA’s lone mainstream use case lingered for years without much of an update.
A bit of a shame in the saga is that the result will allow cable companies to do the bare minimum for those who want an alternative experience to the set-top box. While the FCC will require a software alternative to the descrambling hardware, the software alternative can be the cable company’s own streaming service. Which means the cable company won this battle.
That’s a fitting end for a device that Wired once eloquently called “a technological annoyance beyond many people’s willingness to endure.”