MPAA: Don’t limit our ability to close analog outputs

Everyone’s favorite trade group is at it again! This time they want the ability to shut down analog connections on set top boxes for specific events. The group mentions that this will give the security needed to allow providers to show movies before the appear on DVD. It certainly doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this clearly falls into the motto "Give them an inch and they will take a mile". Of course, that leaves a lot of analog folks out in the cold as well, not everyone has upgraded to the latest and greatest TV with HDCP compliant protections.

Ars Technica

MPAA answers, in so many words, that the fears of its own member studios make the need for the waiver self-evident. "The fact that almost no movies are made available to MVPDs pre-DVD release is clear and convincing evidence that the analog hole is an impediment to the early window release of high-value content," the MPAA concludes. The association has pressed its Petition for Expedited Special Relief on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Brothers.