Cover storys > Content security
Digital TV Europe July/August 2010
Viaccess has expericne delivering three- screen strategies.
to choose platform strategies that can address the widest spectrum of devices. “This means that single-technology platforms will prove to be expensive and will not deliver to a reason- able set of devices. The platform should be able to cope with a variety of content protec- tion standards – some of these will be of a tra-
ditional CAS type; others will be consumer devices purchased on the open market,” says Roger. “With the movement to the support of a wider range of devices, the content owners will either be pushed into accepting alterna- tive approaches to protecting content or will suffer the consequences of consumers turn- ing elsewhere for video content.” Content security specialist Widevine has developed a software-based DRM that is designed specifically to work on devices with low processing power. “Widevine’s DRM client is already integrated on a wide range of devices from LG Blu-ray players, to Samsung connected TVs, to the Nintendo Wii,” says marketing manager Amanda Burrows. She says the plethora of devices available to play video content is a particular challenge for operators. “With some devices, such as the iPhone, an operator will have to develop an App and have it approved by the devices man- ufacturer. Other devices, such as gaming plat- forms, connected TVs and Blu-ray players
Bringing over-the-top content to the TV
The coming together of high-speed broadband networks and connected TVs has got pay-TV operators worried. What are the chances of content owners missing out the operators alto- gether and going directly to consumers? Nagravision’s vice-president solution mar-
keting Stéphane Le Dréau believes operators should view OTT as an opportunity rather than a threat, as long as it is efficiently merged into the pay-TV experience. “What is required here is to make the choice transparent to end users through an integrated UI, from which any type of content can be accessed, regardless of what conduit is being used to deliver them.” Most security vendors now offer solutions
that can be applied to various implementa- tions, including pure OTT within managed or unmanaged devices. “Opening up the OTT environment in the pay-TV space is a logical move,” says NDS’s senior product marketing manager, Howard Silverman. “I don’t think there’s anything stopping operators from offering OTT type services to their customers.” In many cases, delivering an OTT service to
set-top boxes is easier than taking it online. Set-tops with Ethernet ports already have security systems in place, for example. “If you want to do OTT to the PC, you need security in
the PC and you’ll want to duplicate the same kind of backend that’s being used in your lega- cy infrastructure into the over-the top-offer. There are going to be additional content cata- logues, content ingestion, different formats to think about. But if you’re looking at extending an existing set-top environment that gives you access to OTT content then you can do that with the same infrastructure,” Silverman adds. The very nature of most current OTT con-
tent offerings, at least until the studios are more comfortable offering content this way, means that they do not posses the same value as premium services, a corollary being that security requirements will generally be much lower. “An authentication solution where the consumer is authenticated in many cases will be sufficient,” says Conax executive vice-pres- ident, products and marketing, Geir Bjørndal. A major challenge for OTT, he points out, is that while most content can be found on the inter- net, a lot will not be available for legal con- sumption in local countries. “Key web sources, such as Amazon and Netflix, do not currently have rights to distribute content in other markets than the US. According to the studios, the current, long-term distribution agreement with local distributers will not sup-
port one global distribution policy of pay-con- tent for some time to come. Additionally, con- tent providers are not in favour of content that is visible but not actually available in many regions of consumption.” In such a scenario, the pay-TV operator has several advantages,
Bjørndal: pay-TV opera- tors hold an advantage when offering OTT services.
will require working directly with the device manufacturer to have their storefront installed on the devices. This can be a long process for the operator as device manufac- turers want to control their devices as much as possible,” she says. “It can be helpful to work with enabling technologies like DRM or adaptive streaming that are already integrated onto the device. This makes it easier for a device manufacturer to include operator storefronts on their devices.” Some operators have developed hardware solutions for delivering live TV on a PC, for example, using a dongle that can be inserted into a USB port. However, Silverman believes that this kind of option is falling out of favour, one reason being that consumers will not appreciate the effort of having to place the dongle in and out of devices: “Customers with a multi-device strategy will tend to want to do streaming over the network. Some want more of a gateway device that has storage – and any device connected to it can take advan-
including direct customer contact, contact with the local content distribution points, a secured network where premium content can be provided and a brand that most people recognise. “Pay-TV operators can optimise by investing in a portal where the consumer can be easily directed to web sites with content available in the local market. Providing a nav- igable solution where the most popular inter- national content is made available alongside accessible local content, will create a preferred portal for the TV consumer who wants guid- ance for locating content,” says Bjørndal.
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