CableCard Tuner Cards Restricted To OEMs?

Hi,

In researching CableCard TV tuners for a media server I came across a couple of references to CableCard restricting these devices to OEMs. There is some security issue involved and the cards and thay require BIOS support. So they say. A response here, for example,

This is at odds with the way these devices are sold by Amazon and on eBay. Has that restriction been lifted or just never true?

I'm getting enough of a headache trying to put together a media server without this. I need to decode our premium channels.

Thanks, Gary