CI Plus 20.07.2009 Dream:
CI Plus is not standard
Real danger of market foreclosure
Dream Multimedia criticises the introduction of CI Plus.
The companies behind CI Plus suggest that it is involved with the specified standard interface - which is not the case.
Manufacturers must purchase test certificates from a single company, the TC Trust Center assigned with this, in order to be able to use CI Plus.
This gatekeeper function holds the danger of a market foreclosure. The introduction of CI Plus has caused the consumer advice centre in Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) to make a counterproductive appeal to the manufacturer and traders to abandon the purchase of HD receivers without this interface as the HD plus platform channels cannot be received with these set-top-boxes.
To prevent content providers or platform operators from dictating to the end customer, it is not, however, necessary to request a purchasing restraint. The HD receivers without CI Plus will be able to present all the free receiving HD TV channels in the future.
Dream spokesperson Alpaslan Karasu: "There would not be such a request if the needs of the consumer were considered more than the wishes of the content providers in the discussion about CI Plus. I am sure that the customer will confirm this position. CI Plus is not a standard and will not become one if the consumer notices that his/her use of media is impaired with CI Plus.”