Content Protection Key to Success of Profitable Internet Video, Finds Heavy Reading

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers increasingly want to access video content across the various video-capable devices they own, and service providers, content owners, online video distributors and device manufacturers are all keen to provide it. However, new technologies are urgently needed to secure multiplatform video content against piracy and unauthorized access, according to a major new report from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com), the research division of Light Reading (www.lightreading.com).

Content Protection for Multiplatform & Internet Video: Who's Doing What examines the rise of multiplatform video, the evolution of content protection for video and the challenges associated with multiplatform video content protection. The report also analyzes emerging industry initiatives and standards for multiplatform video protection and examines the strengths and weaknesses of 14 key vendors in this market.

This report provides detailed profiles of the three leading Internet-oriented digital rights management (DRM) vendors, along with 11 leading pay TV-oriented conditional access system (CAS) vendors, spelling out their strategies, products, strengths and weaknesses.

For a full list of the multiplatform video content protection vendors profiled in this report, click here: http://img.lightreading.com/heavyreading/pdf/hr20110224_companies.pdf

"Content owners will not allow their content to be distributed on a platform that is vulnerable to piracy," says Aditya Kishore, Senior Analyst of Heavy Reading and author of the report. "However, consumers want to be able to access copies of their purchased content across devices. The entire value chain needs a secure but flexible way to support multiplatform video. In addition, this solution must enable a wide variety of business models and usage rules to help drive new revenue."

However, content protection technology across different platforms is not always compatible, Kishore explains. "Also, all content protection mechanisms may not support all usage rules, so users may not be able to access or transfer some content at some times. The networks and devices themselves have differing capabilities, so they may not be able to support the same security mechanisms. Further, all these content protection solutions need to interoperate with a single, centralized subscriber account. All these challenges must be resolved to make multiplatform video a success."

Key findings of Content Protection for Multiplatform & Internet Video: Who's Doing What include the following:

Multiplatform video is gaining momentum. In Heavy Reading's exclusive survey of service providers around the world, 76 percent of respondents agreed that multiplatform video would be an important requirement for their business within the next five years. Of these, 38 percent strongly agreed. When asked what would make them prioritize multiplatform video more, 25 percent said it was already a top priority.

Content owners will not license their content for distribution to additional devices without adequate safeguards being built in. Content owners must be able to reasonably satisfy themselves that they will be able to control the distribution of their content. This is also an essential requirement for service providers. Unlicensed access to TV content on other platforms will not just affect potential new revenue; it will cannibalize existing pay TV revenue, as well.

Emerging standards and cross-platform solutions look promising. Industry initiatives bringing together multiple industry stakeholders have made progress. Initiatives such as Marlin and the DECE's UltraViolet have the potential to drive a simpler approach to multiplatform video deployment. However, both approaches are unproven and at a very early stage.

A viable multiplatform content protection system must be able to authenticate and authorize access to the video title regardless of the device. It must also support multiple delivery models, multiple pricing and packaging models, and allow for untethered access to content. Obviously, it must also be highly secure and protect the content from any kind of attack. It should also be invisible to the legitimate consumer.

Content Protection for Multiplatform & Internet Video: Who's Doing What is essential reading for a wide range of industry participants, including the following:

• Content owners: What technologies and tools are available to enable the distribution of your content to multiple video devices, and how do you stand to benefit from them? What safeguards are available to control unauthorized access to your content? What limits might you want to impose on making your content available across multiple devices?
• Service providers: How can you leverage multiplatform video to generate new revenue streams, and how can you avoid cannibalizing revenue from your other services? How do your multiplatform video distribution plans map to those of your competitors? Which emerging standards and cross-platform solutions hold the most promise for enabling and controlling multiplatform video?
• Technology vendors: Which multiplatform video content protection capabilities are most coveted by service providers? What relationships in the industry value chain will be most valuable for you to nurture going forward? How can you reassure all the players involved that their needs and concerns are being addressed? How do your multiplatform video technology plans map to those of your competitors?
• Investors: Which technology suppliers are best placed to benefit from the transition to multiplatform video distribution? How is the business case for multiplatform video being made, and how can it be more compelling? How will emerging standards, as well as the competition between Internet-oriented and traditional pay TV-oriented content protection vendors, influence winners and losers in this dynamic market?

Content Protection for Multiplatform & Internet Video: Who's Doing What costs $3,995 and is published in PDF format. The price includes an enterprise license covering all of the employees at the purchaser's company.

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to carriers, service providers, and vendors. Our remit is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next-generation hardware and software. This information is compiled via exhaustive surveys of both vendors' products and service-provider decision makers.

About Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com)

Founded in 2000, the Light Reading Communications Network is the world's leading research-led integrated media company serving the global communications market. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for technological and financial analysis of the communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation. Light Reading's research arms, Heavy Reading and Pyramid Research, provide the most comprehensive communications research, market data, and technology analysis in close to 100 markets around the world. Light Reading produces nearly 20 targeted communications events including TelcoTV, and TelcoTV Asia, Ethernet Expo New York and Ethernet Europe, and The Tower Summit @ CTIA, as well as focused one-day events tailored for cable, mobile, and wireline executives in the US, Europe, India, and China. Light Reading was acquired by United Business Media in August 2005 and operates as a unit of TechWeb.

About UBM TechWeb (www.ubmtechweb.com)

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its three core businesses – media solutions, marketing services and paid content – UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands and media applications in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs and IT managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software Developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively engage in UBM TechWeb's communities and information resources monthly. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and Enterprise Connect; award-winning online resources such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Network Computing; and market-leading magazines InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, and Advanced Trading. UBM TechWeb is a UBM company, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

About United Business Media Limited (www.ubm.com)

UBM (UBM.L) focuses on two principal activities: worldwide information distribution, targeting and monitoring; and, the development and monetization of B2B communities and markets. UBM's businesses inform markets and serve professional commercial communities – from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewelry traders, from farmers to pharmacists – with integrated events, online, print and business information products. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organized into specialist teams that serve these communities, bringing buyers and sellers together, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to http://www.ubm.com.

SOURCE Heavy Reading

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