Vantiva also suggested that operators consider new IP-based set-top technology as a potential replacement. "This will result in no video being displayed."Īt the time, Vantiva recommended that operators remove those devices from their networks by August 2024, but noted that some of the more recent models might be saved "via an update to the client conditional access software image." Since those products are now out of warranty and reached end-of-support several years ago, Vantiva also indicated that such fixes won't be free. ![]() PowerKEY-enabled products, including both video set-tops with embedded security and those with CableCARD security modules, "will cease to perform decryption of video in the August 2024 timeframe," Vantiva explained in the letter, which was obtained by Light Reading. Vantiva, a company recently spun-out of Technicolor that makes set-tops and possesses most of the PowerKEY assets, alerted operators to the issue on June 1, 2022. Meanwhile, another company, Canada-based Adara Technologies, relies heavily on PowerKEY set-tops to deliver and support video services for dozens of cable operator partners. Cisco later shed the S-A assets – Cisco sold its set-top business (which included the bulk of PowerKEY) to Technicolor in 2015, and sold its video software unit, which included some control plane elements used to operate PowerKEY, in a 2018 transaction with what would eventually become Synamedia. That technology changed ownership when Cisco acquired S-A in 2006. Scientific-Atlanta, a video and network tech company that once was a prime supplier to the cable industry, originally developed PowerKey about 30 years ago. Today, certain elements of PowerKEY reside in multiple hands. M&A has caused the PowerKEY ecosystem to become fragmentedĪnd getting those fixes developed is also a tad complicated as M&A activity over the years has caused elements of the PowerKEY conditional access system to change hands. Industry insiders familiar with the situation estimate there could be about 20 million PowerKEY devices still operating in the US and Canada that are subject to the time-out issue. ![]() The not-so-good news? It's not a small fix. The good news is that there's still plenty of time for cable operators to remedy the situation using technical workarounds or swapping out those old, QAM-based boxes. As a prime example, the time-keeping mechanism in certain Unix-based systems is poised for a rollover on January 19, 2038. Notably, PowerKEY isn't alone with respect to this kind of computing clock rollover issue. (Source: User guide for the S-A Explorer 4240C and 4250C set-top models) The backside of a Scientific-Atlanta digital cable set-top equipped with a CableCARD slot.
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