D.C. Memo: Pearl TV Says Huawei Chips Blocking NextGen TV Content
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ATSC 3.0: Does broadcast TV have a national security issue? Chipsets made by a Huawei Technologies subsidiary are the cause of a handful of consumer complaints about losing access to some NextGen TV programming, the Pearl TV coalition told the FCC in a July 18 letter following up on recent face-to-face discussions with agency staff. SilconDusk based in Phoenix makes an ATSC 3.0 gateway device called HDHomeRun Flex. That device includes a chipset manufactured by HiSilicon, a wholly owned subsidiary of Huawei. The Huawei connection has led to tech roadblocks for some ATSC 3.0 content. “Given SiliconDust’s business choice to include a chip from HiSilicon, it should be no surprise to the [FCC] that SiliconDust is unable to include key ATSC technologies owned by various U.S. companies that otherwise would enable it to directly operate with major equipment and technology companies for various features, and that SiliconDust is unable to obtain a security verification to display all ATSC 3.0 content,” said Pearl TV outside counsel Gerard Waldron and Max Larson at Covington and Burling. Pearl TV presented the FCC with six photos of an HDHomeRun Flex uncovered circuit board. Removal of the thermal putty on a circuit revealed the HiSilicon logo. “The most troubling aspect of SiliconDust’s behavior is that it actively markets a device to consumers that it knows will not work with the A3SA content protection technology being used by ATSC 3.0 broadcasters,” Waldron and Larson explained. (More after paywall.)
