Next Gen TV Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Protects Television Service and the Public from Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

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Washington, D.C. – (April 5, 2019) – Pearl TV has reached an agreement with Eonti and DigiCert to provide a secure Industry Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) to safeguard transmissions between a broadcast station and receiving devices. The system will be as seamless to the viewing public as accessing a secure website. As part of the agreement, Eonti (as the management authority) and DigiCert (as the certification authority) will issue X.509 certificates and operate an online certificate status protocol responder — both of which conform to the ATSC 3.0 Security Standard for Next-Gen TV.

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“The television industry needs a secure platform, and the American public needs a television system that is secure and dependable, in particular to protect emergency alerting and accessibility features.  This system will secure our transmissions and operate as easily for the public as accessing a website.  Pearl is pleased to support the launch of a PKI on behalf of the industry to support cryptographically signed applications and ATSC 3.0 signaling tables as per the Next-Gen TV standard’s A/360 specification,“ said Anne Schelle, Pearl TV Managing Director.

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“We have been preparing for the commercial launch of ATSC 3.0 services by working with Eonti and DigiCert for the past 18 months to design and test the various certificates types, as well as the supporting Online Certificate Status Protocol Responder infrastructure.  This is a critical step in securing the broadcast signals, allowing ATSC 3.0 receiving devices to verify the authenticity of the transmission and protecting the American public against security threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks,” Schelle explained.

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“Eonti is honored and extremely excited to be part of this compelling service and is committed to providing a strong foundation for the digital certificate issuance required to secure transmission between Next-Gen TV services,” said Oscar Marcia, CEO and President of Eonti, Inc.

“DigiCert is pleased to have earned the trust of Pearl TV and the television industry,” said Deepika Chauhan, EVP of Emerging Markets at DigiCert. “Working with Eonti and Pearl TV, we are excited about contributing our proven PKI solutions to the overall security of Next-Gen TV services for the broadcasters, for the TV manufacturers, and for the public.”

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The new PKI is being used as part of the Phoenix Model Market and is currently available to broadcasters for test purposes.  Commercial availability is expected in the coming months.

                                                                              

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About Eonti
Established in 2015 and headquartered in Lafayette, Colorado, Eonti Inc. provides industry-leading cyber security consulting and trust management services to clients worldwide. Eonti is founded on over 25 years of experiences in a variety of ecosystems such as cable broadband, financial services, Smart Grid, mobile, aviation and IoT. Eonti works across many industry sectors with one purpose: to deliver actionable and measurable results through customizable, scalable, and affordable trust. For more information, visit www.eonti.com.

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About DigiCert, Inc.
DigiCert is the world’s leading provider of scalable TLS/SSL, PKI solutions for identity and encryption. The most innovative companies, including 89 percent of Fortune 500 companies and 97 out of the 100 top global banks, choose DigiCert for its expertise in identity and encryption for web servers and Internet of Things devices. DigiCert supports TLS/SSL and other digital certificates for PKI deployments at any scale through its certificate lifecycle management platform, CertCentral®. The company is recognized for its enterprise-grade certificate management platform, fast and knowledgeable customer support, and market-leading security solutions. For the latest DigiCert news and updates, visit digicert.com or follow @digicert.

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About Pearl TV

Pearl TV is a business group comprised of Cox Media Group, the E.W. Scripps Company, Graham Media Group, Gray Television Inc., Hearst Television Inc., Meredith Local Media Group, Nexstar Media Group, and TEGNA, Inc.  Pearl TV’s membership includes companies that operate more than 300 network-affiliated, local stations across the country.