While non-proprietary security standards may seem counter-intuitive (how can an open standard provide the right level of security to deliver high value content?), there are multiple benefits and clear value associated with a multi-vendor DRM scheme. These benefits have no doubt been amplified by recent progress on the fronts of multiple standards – plus the dramatically expanding landscape of multiple screens ideal for consuming video content.

As IBC draws closer, we find ourselves reflecting on the trends that have been reinforced since IBC 2010, and anticipating the prevailing themes of the conversations at IBC 2011.

Since last year’s show, it seems the digital TV industry has entered a new period of pragmatism and commercial maturity. This feels like a welcome period of stabilization after the recent cycles of hype following OTT’s emergence as a viable new technical option for service delivery.

So if you’re in Amsterdam next month, drop by our stand, say hello and share your thoughts with us on the trends here and at @verimatrixinc that will define IBC 2011 and pave the way for the IBC 2012.

We recognize that we are still in the early days of developing the business environment for adaptive rate streaming and OTT video services – which is why we are organizing the Capitalizing on OTT Breakfast Forum the morning of March 22 just down from the IP&TV World Forum.

DECE and Project Canvas have selected open, non-proprietary DRM standards to secure content in these ground-breaking initiatives, including Marlin.

Project Canvas Selects Marlin as DRM Standard. Even in this new video delivery age, a strong core security platform provides the essential support for revenue generating services and complements the fundamental free-to-air and catch-up services central to the Canvas vision.

A key component to any digital TV or video delivery standard are is the ability to generate revenue. Creating the right experience that consumers are willing to pay for will most certainly generate continued innovation.

Will service providera will jump on the VP8 bandwagon without being able to accommodate all licensing fees into their business model upfront? From the point of view of revenue security, it seems that rather than uniting the world behind a common (OK, supposedly free) codec, Google is really driving a wedge between commercial content and user-generated content.

You didn’t have to look very hard to see that the biggest thing at CES this year was continued buzz about 3D TV. From my standpoint, it seems the equipment manufacturers are ahead of the rest of the ecosystem to make this a mainstream reality. For one, there is very little 3D content and little [...]

My compliments to Andrew Glasspool and his colleagues at Farncombe Technologies for two important, closely argued white papers published this year that are barometers of the changing times we live in. Their most recent paper, published this  week, on the Common Scrambling Algorithm (CSA) mandate that many pay-TV deployments must accommodate illustrates very succinctly how technical decisions that once were [...]

Traditional pay-TV operators have always been highly focused on revenue security by way of theft of service prevention – for two main reasons. Subscriber fees are obviously a significant revenue source and piracy through theft of service is very prevalent, particularly in certain markets (See CASBAA for country-specific piracy rates). Smart cards were really the [...]