CCP Digital Future Seminar Series - The June Report
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Key content industry members of the Asia Pacific Centre for Content
Protection (CCP), participated in the International Telecommunication
Union - Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (ITU-AIBD)
workshop, and at Broadcast Asia, in Singapore June 16-17.
During Broadcast Asia, CCP launched recommendations for outputs on
free-to-air (FTA) receiver units as part of the Digital Future
Seminar (DFS) Series.
Protecting the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) Common Interface and
ensuring High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) for digital
display outputs, disabling analogue outputs for High Definition (HD)
content and adopting the latest version of broadcast signaling for DVB
were best practices recommended.
Content industry players, including HBO, Irdeto, SecureMedia, NDS and
Nagravision, participated in the seminar to talk broadcast content
protection developments and the role of government. Paul Jackson, CTO
of NDS, shared insights on regulatory practices for broadcasters in
India.
Despite the proliferation of media, a bright future was predicted for
FTA television broadcasters, with well-managed and protected HD digital
broadcasts. Says CCP Director Isa Seow, “The industry is set to
flourish but there are challenges in ensuring the availability of
high-value content in Free-to-Air, particularly HD content. Content
protection must be in place for HD content.”
Earlier, at the ITU-AIBD workshop on digital terrestrial television
broadcasting June 16, Motion Picture Association of America CTO Jim
Williams recommended terrestrial broadcasters tap low-cost content
protection choices. Broadcasters at the workshop were engaged by CCP
members Nagravision, NDS, ASTRO, MPA, Microsoft and Conax who provided
updates and a panel discussion on the latest issues in relation to
broadcast and content protection.
Participants discussed why free-to-air (FTA) broadcasters may need to
make content-protection choices, especially at the set-top box.
"It's a really exciting time for us as the digital transition begins," says Seow.
Jim Williams called it digital emancipation when US broadcasters turned
off analog signals June 12 this year. Every country is in different
stages of the digital transition, he said, and invited delegates from
different countries to look at which stage they each were in, and the
different types of content protection involved. When you worry about
what kind of service data you're going to have and several other
issues, the other thing you must worry about is content protection, he
cautioned. "Protect your free TV," he exhorted.
”Content protection helps broadcasters to obtain high-value entertainment. Content owners can be more confident of channels that they will be
licensing content,” says Seow, who is also MPA consultant. “Our CCP Recommended Outputs Publication is a reference for many device
manufacturers and broadcasters seeking clarifications for free-to-air
set-top box outputs design.”
Williams recommended low-cost alternatives such as High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), where discounts on royalties are available.
"Not many organisations are focused on low-cost alternatives," he said.
"One organisation that is focused on it is CCP."
In Korea, a country with one of the highest broadband penetration
rates, 47% of the 33.5 mill users admitted to illegally downloading
movies once a week. "If this goes on, we're going to face what happened
to the music industry," said Graham Stevens, CTO, Astro All Asia
Networks plc. He concurred that it might seem strange to talk about FTA
and content protection in the same breath, but don't just go out with
open-architecture set-top boxes, he warned, and instead use the
opportunity to think about how to do the digital transition well.
NDS Asia-Pac Chief Engineer Paul Jackson described a new broadcast
business model that his company supports in Turkey. The Turkish model
requires people to purchase a content-protected set top box and
register for free access to additional "free-to-view" content.
Advertising is targeted to users of these set top boxes. An enhanced
version of the service for digital video recorders could in future
allow for targeted advertising by demographics. Jackson advised against
subsidising unprotected set-top boxes, which may be "effectively
subsidising your neighbours' set-tops," if your set-tops are compatible
with neighbouring countries' transmissions. He recommended minimum
security features in hardware, common to all boxes, as a means both to
enable more potential business models and also to discourage unintended
cross subsidy.
In the crowd was the Indian regulator amongst the Singapore, Malaysia and other regulators who flew in for the BCA related events.
Jim Beveridge, Director International Media Policy, Microsoft, said the
company had several new innovations where high-value content was one
constant. The idea of Multiple screens on Media Room, Media Centre and
X-Box require content protection, he said, which requires Microsoft to
interact with broadcasters on this platform.
Vidar Sandvik, International Product Marketing Manager at Conax AS,
advocated "scrambling" for FTA broadcasting. He cited Netherlands and
Poland where 100% cable saturation did not prevent terrestrial
television from thriving. In Poland where FTA had 30% of the market,
FTA broadcasters added video-on-demand in HD, increasing value for
consumers, and ensuring no leaks to the Net. Let the pay-TV operator
subsidise the set-top box, he said, and then control box quality for
content protection. As for cost, set-top box vendors paid nothing for
Conax hardware, he said.
Licensing set-top box production and preventing consumers from becoming broadcasters, but enabling them to receive, store and do home
networking are some rules that regulators should lay down to protect
content, concluded Williams. He recommended making content protection
cheaper by going completely digital. "Why do you need analog outputs?"
he asks. The combined cost of HDMI (High-definition Multimedia
Interface) and content protection on a set-top box was cheaper than
content protection alone, he pointed out.
The ITU-AIBD workshop saw 40-50 Asian broadcast regulators in the room.
Among the regulators were Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and
others.
Event: ITU-AIBD Regional Seminar on Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting - Making the Right Choices
Location: Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore
Date: June 16, 2009
DFS Broadcast Asia speakers: Bob Zitter, Chief Technology Officer, HBO
* Jim Williams, CTO, Microsoft* Christophe Nicolas, Chief Technology
Officer, Nagravision * Vidar Sandvik, Intl Product Marketing Manager,
Conax * Paul Jackson, Chief Technology Officer, NDS * Dr. Benjamin
Lian, Director of Technology, Irdeto * Paul Osbourne, General Manager,
R&D, Securemedia* John Enoch, VP, Asia Risk* * Isa Seow, Managing
Director, Centre for Content Protection (CCP)
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