As of last Sunday, cable operators will no longer be able to mandate that you have lease their cable decoder box. The industry agreed on a descrambler format, the CableCARD, which can be loaded into a cable box made by any company. Consumers should see equipment price drops, along with a range of new features. However, the CableCARD will probably only be available to new installations and upgrades.

Sunday begins new era for cable subscribers [USA Today] (Thanks to David!

(Photo: satinpeter)

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