As Smart TVs become the centerpiece of home entertainment, customers have come to expect flawless broadcast and broadband service. With this shift, the TV today plays a major role in a home system, often eclipsing and even replacing the hardy set top box (STB).
Operators seeking to implement Direct-to-TV applications (applications for video services that are accessible from a Smart TV) must thread the requirements of legacy broadcast systems and modern broadband systems to provide seamless support to consumers to increase subscriber stickiness and average revenue per user. This means they need to offer robust content security that meets stringent Hollywood studios requirements and minimize the costs of new technologies.
In light of these trends, operators are looking for new standards-based technologies that bridge the technologies of the past and the future. Standards like HbbTV Operator Application (HbbTV OpApp) enable operators to build their own broadcast and OTT TV services directly from smart TVs with or without a set-top box. Because HbbTV and OpApp technologies are broadly deployed around the world, they are helping to accelerate the development of these services.
“We wanted to provide a cost saving option for operators to be able to modernize their distribution platform through a simple API integration allowing consumers the freedom of choice to access content seamlessly”, said Manas Matti, Managing Director, ExpressPlay. Combining Sofia Digital HbbTV Application with Intertrust ExpressPlay XCA, operators can avoid the costly set-top box device and provide customers premium Direct-to-TV services.”
In this world, Intertrust XCA Conditional Access is the ideal bridge technology for this transformation. XCA is built on the Marlin open standard for Digital Rights Management and is a DRM in Conditional Access clothing—which means that it is totally compatible with DRM systems while implementing seamlessly into a transitional CA head-end. Furthermore, the cost point for XCA is far lower than any other CA system. Given its availability on the majority of televisions in Europe, XCA is an easy choice for operators. We’re proud to have worked together to deliver an XCA-enabled system to HD+ and are looking forward to announcing more operator partners globally as we move forward.
“Sofia Digital has been at the forefront of HbbTV and Operator Applications development. Our company is happy to participate in creating new ways to access premium broadcast and OTT content with Intertrust and smart TV manufacturers”, said Juho Mäyränpää, Sales Director at Sofia Digital.
To recap, XCA has the following advantages:
- Cost savings: Operators can lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) since there is no need to deal with STBs or smart cards.
- Broadcast TV and OTT streaming convergence: In many cases, it is not feasible for operators to simply switch to a streaming-only distribution model for distributing protected video content.
- Distribution flexibility: Modern content protection needs to be deployed across all distribution modes, such as broadcasting, adaptive streaming, multicasting, etc.
- Easy API integration: Any converged broadcast-OTT application with security deployment needs to be integrated alongside the broadcaster’s existing systems through a well-defined API Sofia Digital is able to deliver pre-integrated applications.
- Accelerated certification: A modern and converged content security solution, used in combination with client-devices such as smart TVs, self-certification accelerates service providers’ time to market.
- Improving consumer choice: When consumers purchase a Smart TV, Smart TV-based applications let consumers select a service provider with just a click of the remote. Consumers can skip the hassle of installing STB devices and just start watching their favorite content directly from the TV.
About Intertrust
Intertrust provides trusted computing products and services to leading global corporations–from mobile, consumer electronics and IoT manufacturers, to service providers and enterprise software platform companies. These products include the world’s leading digital rights management (DRM) and technologies to enable private data exchanges for various verticals, including energy, entertainment, retail/marketing, automotive, fintech, and IoT. Founded in 1990, Intertrust is headquartered in Silicon Valley with a presence in major cities in Asia, Europe, and North America. The company has a legacy of invention, and its fundamental contributions in the areas of computer security and digital trust are globally recognised. Intertrust holds hundreds of patents that are key to Internet security, trust, and privacy management components of operating systems, trusted mobile code and networked operating environments, web services, and cloud computing. Additional information is available at intertrust.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.
About Sofia Digital
Sofia Digital is a Finnish pioneer of interactive video and TV solutions, bringing new value-adding services to different terminals utilizing latest digital technologies. Sofia Digital focuses on open standard interactive platforms, HbbTV, broadcasting automation tools including PSI-SI and EPG management system. Since its foundation in 2000, Sofia Digital has served internationally recognized operators, broadcasters and device manufacturers in over 38 countries. www.sofiadigital.com
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