Cisco, Others Unhappy About Exclusion From Downloadable Security Committee

The FCC’s Downloadable Security Technological Advisory Committee doesn’t include a correct balance of views and excludes viewpoints important to the set-top box industry, said officials at some companies that aren't represented on the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Reauthorization Act-mandated body.

Cisco, DirecTV and Verizon were among the companies that sought membership on the 18-member committee announced in a public notice (PN) Tuesday, but weren’t given seats, to the surprise of many familiar with cableCARD and downloadable security, several consumer electronics industry officials told us. “We are a glaring omission,” said Cisco Vice President-Government Affairs Jeff Campbell. Other entities in the downloadable security field disagree, saying those on the committee can represent the interests of those off it -- committee member Charter uses Cisco technology, several CE officials pointed out. The DSTAC’s meetings – the first is Feb. 17 – will also be open to the public, they said.

Chairman Tom Wheeler's office “made a mistake,” Campbell said. The FCC “sought to select a diverse and representative group of committee members while keeping the size of the committee manageable,” a Media Bureau spokeswoman told us. “There are major gaps in the expertise of the working group,” said Beyond Broadband Technology Director-Strategic Communications Steve Effros, who said the committee doesn’t include enough experts on downloadable security or representatives from smaller cable companies. “The balance of the advisory committee needs to be looked at,” Effros said.

Other entities with interest in downloadable security don’t see a problem with the committee’s makeup. NCTA General Counsel Neal Goldberg praised the FCC for balancing the committee with representatives from different parts of the industry, and also for selecting Wilkinson Barker attorney Cheryl Tritt to chair it, because she doesn’t have a history of dealing with the issues of downloadable security and cableCARDs. “It’s a brilliant idea to bring in someone from the outside,” he said. The commission has to keep the committee to a manageable size, TiVo General Counsel Matt Zinn said.

Many of the companies excluded from the committee are seen as having their interests represented by those groups that are on board, several CE officials told us. Along with Charter serving as a stand-in for Cisco, AT&T is seen as also representing DirecTV’s interests, while Verizon’s technology is seen as being similar to that used by Comcast and other cable companies on DSTAC, the officials said. Though NCTA applied for membership and was rejected, several of its members are on the committee, and the same is true for CEA, which didn’t seek membership, officials told us. Campbell and an official connected with Verizon said that sort of representation is not a substitute for committee membership. “I don’t see why the committee can’t function with 20 members if it can function with 18,” Campbell said. Those left off the list likely don’t have any legal recourse for forcing their way onto the body, CE officials told us.

Some CE officials expressed concern that the FCC PN announcing the first meeting says the scope of the DSTAC’s report on “a not unduly burdensome, uniform, and technology- and platform-neutral software-based downloadable security system to promote the competitive availability of navigation devices” will be one of the topics. That scope was narrowly defined by Congress, Goldberg said. “We don’t think the committee should be straying in the direction of AllVid,” Goldberg said, referring to an unsuccessful proposed universal replacement to cableCARD. Some of “the most vocal advocates” for AllVid were included on the DSTAC, Effros said. The congressional mandate was to advise on the technical aspects of downloadable security, he said. The scope of the committee is a proper topic, Zinn said. “There’s a lot to be defined.”