The FCC has mandated that as of July 1, video delivery systems in the United States must use boxes that separate out the content security technology from the box’s internal circuitry, thus freeing it from a proprietary system deployed by a specific service operator. The integration ban was enacted as part of the 1996 Telcom Act.
According to the commission, the ban was put in place to spur competition among equipment vendors and make set-top boxes available to consumers anywhere in the country. With no encryption included, however, these boxes will be vulnerable to piracy, so cable operators will need to deploy some type of external security technology. There are several ways that system operators can comply with the rules as defined in Section 76.1204, including the use of a physical CableCard system and/or a platform based on conditional access software.
Matt Cannard, vice president of marketing at Widevine Technologies, said the mandate should help bring down the cost of STBs in general and that the new boxes will begin to show up in homes by the end of the year.
“The biggest impact and value for the operator is the flexibility in the control and choices they get in deploying a security system that overlays the entire video ecosystem and focuses on securing content, regardless of where it goes,” Cannard said.
The new mandate should open up the market to a variety of STB vendors from overseas, reducing costs for both the operator and their subscribers. It will also enable operators to offer new services.
Widevine is one of several companies that offer a downloadable conditional access software solution — called Cypher — that meets the requirements of the FCC's separable security mandate. The company also offers Virtual SmartCard technology. As a provider of software-based technology that includes digital rights management and digital copy protection, Widevine is also cooperating with consumer device manufacturers to enable them to build consumer electronic products, such as computers and portable media players, that are compliant.
The Widevine security software is installed at the cable headend, making it easy to deploy and upgrade across its subscriber base. The technology supports a hybrid approach that overlays security over a linear stream that doesn’t impede the channel changing experience while also offering DRM software that protects file-based delivery and storage in the home on a DVR, for example. The software is easily renewable.
For more information, visit www.widevine.com.
