Cover storys > Content security


Digital TV Europe July/August 2010


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High-speed broadband networks and advanced consumer devices mean three-screen strategies are back on the agenda. Graham Pomphrey assesses the security issues.


es iPlayer and Hulu has proven one thing – people are prepared to watch full-length pro- grammes and movies on their PCs. But there is a caveat – the content needs to be high- quality and preferably free. For a while, the potential of online TV looked doubtful as the graveyard of failed OTT start-ups began to fill up. According to Steve Christian, vice-president of marketing for content security specialist Verimatrix, a transition is now taking place from the origi- nal OTT obsession with ad-based business models to a predominant interest in how to support subscription-based services, with pay-TV operators ideally placed to offer and manage such services. “The expectation is


The success of online video servic-


that service providers can extend the reach of their services to non-traditional delivery plat- forms and do it on a paid basis. That transi- tion in business models has caused some- what of a reset in terms of the technology required,” he says. Christian’s colleague Steve Oetegenn,


Verimatrix’s chief sales and marketing offi- cer, says the company is developing services based on its customers’ plans, and that means delivering converged services that includes traditional linear broadcast delivery via cable, satellite, and increasingly IP, com- bined with OTT models that includes time shifting and place shifting, as part of an over- all pay-TV offer. Pay-TV operators seem an obvious choice to deliver such services – ahead of content owners or device manufac-


turers. They already have the subscribers, and a billing relationship with them, they have a vested interest to keep those subscribers and in many cases they also own the content. “In some cases the OTT services will be free as long as you subscribe to your regular service. In other cases, operators could charge an extra monthly subscription. The traditional pay-TV operators are reacting, slower than some would have expected, but in an orderly fashion,” Oetegenn suggests. Unsurprisingly, the major worry for the entire TV world is that the industry will get turned upside down by the internet in the same way the music industry did. Increased internet speeds a few years ago were enough for peer-to-peer websites to almost ruin the music industry, and the TV industry wants to


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