After more than two years of protracted negotiations, there are signs that the pending two-way agreement between the cable and consumer electronics industries may be on the move.

The cable industry today filed a set of voluntary regulatory commitments with the Federal Communications Commission, potentially setting a roadmap for consumer electronics manufacturers to field interactive digital cable TVs and other devices without the need for a set-top box. A proposed FCC regulation includes voluntary benchmarks - agreed to by the cable industry - that call for larger cable operators to roll out the OpenCable Applications Platform in cable headends by July 1, 2009.

The commitments also propose to build upon agreements the cable industry's research consortium, CableLabs Inc., has already forged with several top consumer electronics makers, including the OCAP license and the CableCARD-Host Interface License Agreement (CHILA). So far, electronics manufacturers including Panasonic Corp. of North America, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have signed the CHILA agreement. Most notably, however, top cable box makers Motorola Inc. and Scientific-Atlanta Inc. have not as yet announced they have signed the CHILA agreement.

Using these licenses, electronics manufacturers can create two-way interactive devices that would plug into cable operators' services via an insertable CableCARD obtained from the operator. The CableCARD carries the conditional access and authorization codes to allow the content to flow into these next-generation digital devices.

An existing pact covers devices that deliver one-way services such as standard digital TV. The two-way agreement would open the door to interactive services including video-on-demand and other Internet-based applications.

But two-way CableCARDS may be just an interim step. In a separate FCC report also filed today, the NCTA outlined the cable industry's plans to deploy a Downloadable Conditional Access System (DCAS) that could funnel services to MSO-issued set-tops or consumer electronics devices without the need for a separate CableCARD. In that filing, the NCTA reported that deployment of these DCAS systems is possible, with an expected national rollout by July 1, 2008.

That would make it easier to offer two-way devices at retail, since they would not require the MSO to issue a separate CableCARD to new customers - and it could potentially widen the field of set-top box suppliers, according to the NCTA filing. On a related note, yesterday Samsung became the first consumer electronics maker to sign the licensing agreement with CableLabs to develop DCAS products.

"The cable industry is proposing to the FCC a clear and reasonable path that will enable cable customers to purchase digital TVs and other devices that will access cable's advanced services without a set-top box," said Kyle McSlarrow, president and CEO of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, in a statement. "We look forward to working with the FCC and the consumer electronics industry to implement a solution which will allow market delivery of Interactive Digital Cable Ready devices in the near future."