»www.multichannel.com/article/CA6475156.html

Comcast is planning to take the Federal Communications Commission to court after the agency on Tuesday night refused to exempt three set-top boxes from rules intended to promote a retail consumer market for such boxes.

The FCC required more than 500 days to act on Comcast’s set-top waivers.

“We are disappointed by today's FCC decision, but we are pleased that we now have a decision that we can appeal to federal court. It is our intention to pursue promptly judicial review of this decision, which we continue to believe imposes significant additional costs on consumers without any corresponding benefit,” said Comcast executive vice president David L. Cohen moments after release of the FCC order.

Comcast intends to argue in court that the FCC under Republican chairman Kevin Martin engaged in inconsistent decision-making because other companies received wavers for the same boxes Comcast wanted to shield from the July 1, 2007 ban on the introduction of new boxes that integrate both signal security and channel selection functionalities.

The FCC decision and Commissioner comments:
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···7A1.pdf
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···7A2.pdf
»hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/a···27A3.pdf