Security Feature | Watermarking Technology
PROTECTING REVENUE
People have never been so eager to consume content. They want better content which generates more engagement. They want to consume content on their own device. They want to interact with the content and access their favorite programmes whenever and wherever.
Alex Terpstra, CEO, Civolution
Consumers want to receive their content in full HD resolution for maximum experience with their home-theatre and they want to have it in HD resolution to run on their PC/ tablet and it has to look great on their smartphone. Sequential device usage is becoming an increasingly important trend; for example, consumers increasingly want to start watching a fi lm on the TV and then fi nish viewing on the smartphone or the tablet.
In the meantime, high-speed internet has reached a large share of the worldwide population. Cable or satellite networks had limited reach but internet has no geographic boundaries. This is a fantastic opportunity: PayTV operators can now – at least technically – reach people around the globe. This is a world without boundaries.
In the past, controlled linear CAS and DRM systems were keeping piracy at levels the content owners and operators could live with. However, reaching all devices and all subscribers whenever and wherever, the protection of the content is now severely challenged. In fact security is one of the main reasons that multiscreen access to all content on any device is not fully with us just yet. Broadband networks now make it possible for pirates to distribute content, even live and on a high scale, with a very reasonable user experience, and without any geographical boundaries e.g. live video
38 | May/June 2013 |
ibeconnects.com
Alex Terpstra | Civolution
The shift to multi-screens and affordable high-speed internet is creating opportunities for PayTV. Alex Terpstra, CEO of Civolution, believes operators must also protect against security threats.
streaming web sites such as Justin. tv or video fi le lockers. Worryingly, the technical barriers to the pirates offering a high-quality viewing experience have failed to produce real results.
Studios, programmers and PayTV operators have measured the heavy revenue impact of internet piracy, and understood the urgency to address it. As a result, they have started to monitor the internet and use the DMCA take-down notices to get their content removed from internet sharing sites. However, take-down notifi cations are not solving the root cause of the piracy and as take-down processes have started to become effective, piracy is migrating to sharing sites which are not processing takedown notifi cations.
Forensic watermarking can play a pivotal role to unleash the full potential of broadband. By embedding an imperceptible and non-removable unique identifi er into the video at individual stream or device level, watermarking enables content providers to confi dently offer high- value content that is typically at higher risk for piracy. The recipients are not limited in legitimate use of the content, but those who abuse content through illegal redistribution for instance, can be traced.
After successful deployments in prerelease, digital cinema and transactional VOD, the forensic watermark is now ‘broadcast ready’ and can play a pivotal role for PayTV everywhere through providing an actionable tool for PayTV operators to have a return path on their network security status.
In the situation that suspicious content is found, the rights owner may issue
a take-down notifi cation to the streaming site or cyber-locker. In the case of a TV or STB analogue output capture and re-streaming by a pirate, the watermark helps to locate via the operator’s subscriber management system the source subscriber which rights can then be revoked. And if a pirate is using a screen grabber on his PC, the watermark and the DRM can locate the source stream, which can in turn be stopped.
The rise of broadband is creating a major threat that needs to be addressed. This can be effi ciently done with session-based watermarking, designed by Civolution to integrate seamlessly into PayTV workfl ows. Initially starting from a B2B perspective in pre-release and Digital Cinema environments, watermarking can now be applied to B2C delivery systems for high volumes of concurrent sessions in any distribution network, even including 4K Ultra HD resolution video. The technology has already been approved and used by Hollywood movie studios and PayTV operators for many years.
The real time illicit re-streaming of PayTV content such as exclusive sport events, movies and series is endangering the whole ecosystem. Watermarking vendors such as Civolution continue to work with CAS, DRM suppliers, systems integrators and operators to provide the levels of security required by content and rights owners to secure the ecosystem and at the same time enable them to embrace the full potential of broadband content delivery. These security developments are critical in enabling exciting new developments in content offerings such as the support for early release windows.
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