In a controversial move which will add yet more fuel the ongoing discussion about equal, non-discriminatory access to digital television in Germany, Kirch Group has begun to exchange the first series of d-box decoders with new units. The action will eliminate from the market all the original boxes containing the Irdeto conditional access modules.

Subscribers to Kirch Group’s digital package DF1 will be combined with those of Premiere when the package relaunches as Premiere World on October 1. Users of the original d-box, containing the Irdeto Conditional Access Module (CAM), have in the past few days received a letter stating that due to a change in the encryption system their box is to be exchanged with a new model at no cost to them.

By eliminating all Irdeto boxes, Kirch can stop transmitting Irdeto conditional access codes and use only Betacrypt, its proprietary system. This ensures that the only set-top boxes which can receive DF1 and Premiere are Kirch Group’s d-box decoders; reception with other Irdeto-equipped boxes or boxes with Common Interface slots that contain an Irdeto CAM will not be possible. Industry observers see Kirch’s move as a measure to protect the d-box licences that have been issued to Nokia, Sagem and Philips.