Whats CableCARD?
CableCARD is a new hardware option for customer who purchase Digital Cable Ready equipment and want to access analog and digital cable services. A CableCARD is a PCMCIA card like those you may use in your PC today. It plugs into a Digital Cable Ready television set or other digital devices (e.g., DVRs, D-VHS, etc.) and, like a set-top box, allows consumers to access unscrambled cable television signals (analog and digital) and digitally encrypted cable television services (E.g. HBO, Showtime, Starz!, etc.). Because the first generation of Digital Cable-Ready equipment is one-way, cable customers will still require a digital set top box to receive cable’s two-way services such as iControl (VOD, SVOD, FOD, etc.) and the Interactive Program Guide.
