Downloadable CAS and Secure Processors Meet Market Needs

ABI: Critics say that software-only digital rights management solutions for electronic media aren't sufficiently robust. But traditional hardware-based security measures, common to long-established content protection systems, may not be up to the challenges of an interconnected digital world. Downloadable Conditional Access systems (DCAS), in which the two technologies converge, may offer the best of both worlds. DCAS is a combination of traditional conditional access (CA) and the emerging downloadable software-based model. The hardware resides in the user's set-top box (STB), and interacts with downloaded security software to permit access to the content being received. Traditional CA players such Scientific-Atlanta, NDS, Motorola and Nagravision are already getting on board with DCAS. DCAS is important because it solves digital media's challenge: the legitimate transfer of content from the STB to an ancillary device such as a portable video recorder. Consumers spend fewer hours watching TV now. They want to receive content through other devices. If the content owners don't face up to this, they risk losing sales. Meanwhile, program content is becoming a commodity. There are many more media sources and many more distribution paths. If a particular piece of entertainment is not made available for a wide variety of devices, consumers will look elsewhere, and its owner will lose. DCAS's marriage of software with hardware-based encryption enables transfer of content from an STB to a personal media player or even a mobile phone. Broadcom and STMicro are making secure video processors for a variety of peripheral devices. As long as they are based on standard rules other IC vendors can work with, such processors built into a portable video player could allow it to receive secure content from a cable or satellite STB. That's very powerful satellite and IPTV providers need to build that into their business models, by tailoring their subscription packages to include post-STB ?transfer' fees, and by investing in or partnering with ancillary device vendors. EchoStar, for example, has invested in Archos, a small company that makes portable video recorders.Conditional Access and DRM: Focus On CATV, DBS and IPTV Platforms DRM? Wikipedia Red Viking Publ 20060209