1. Consumer premises equipment (CPE) for use in a content distribution network, said equipment comprising: at least one display element operative to display status or other information relating to the operation of said CPE; an application programming interface (API) resident on said CPE, said API to provide access to said at least one display element; and a trusted application for running at least in part on said CPE and having permission to utilize said API; wherein said trusted application controls said at least one display element via said API; and wherein said API further interfaces with a plurality of different configurations of said display element.