Nagravision, Microsoft team up to offer pay TV on PCs

MUMBAI: Nagravision, the international independent provider of value-added content protection solutions, and Microsoft Corp., one of the leading players in software, services and solutions, today announced a joint commitment to enable technology solutions that help provide the secure reception of digital pay-TV programs on personal computers and devices running Microsoft® Windows® operating systems.

 

 

Nagravision and Microsoft will work together to enable the development of cost-effective products and services that use both parties' technologies for the delivery of premium television content to personal computers running the Windows XP media center edition operating system and its ecosystem of connected devices, including Xbox 360(TM) and portable media centers. The agreement includes a plan for joint marketing and business development activities.

The convergence of pay-TV and personal computers brings new business opportunities for content owners, network operators, electronic devices manufacturers, retailers and technology providers. A critical piece needed to fully capitalize on this convergence and enable compelling end-user scenarios for the delivery of high-value digital content is the availability of a solid, scalable conditional access (CA) to Windows Media® Digital Rights Management technical solution. Such a CA-to-DRM bridge solution narrows the gap between the pay-TV platform and the increasing number of Media Center PCs and their connected digital devices.

"This relationship allows our customers to increase their options for content distribution within the home and capitalize on the emergence of their subscribers' expectations to access content on any device," said Nagravision COO Pierre Roy. "In fact this CA-to-DRM bridge links the best of both worlds: Nagravision's proven CA technology for content delivery and Microsoft's home network concept for distribution within the home."

"We're tremendously excited to work with such an industry leader to further the vision of digital entertainment anywhere," said Microsoft corporate vice president Windows client extended platforms Rick Thompson. "This partnership will help the industry enable authorized distribution of premium TV content to media center PCs and a variety of connected retails devices, benefiting both consumers and network operators."

 

 

At IBC2005, Microsoft and Nagravision will be demonstrating the first results of their collaboration: a proof-of-concept device, implemented on Microsoft's reference design by Digital Keystone Inc. This demo shows Canal and Group's TV programs being securely broadcasted through Nagravision's conditional access system before being securely "bridged" into Microsoft's digital rights management (DRM) content protection technology to enable authorised access on windows media center PCs and their ecosystem of connected devices. This Nagravision CA-to-DRM bridge, shown on Nagravision's booth #1.420, supports current business models and enables quality-perfect, authorized access of premium TV content. It allows network operators to take advantage of the innovation around media consumption on media center PCs and their entire ecosystem of connected devices, according to the company.

"Upon customer request, we have now the ability to help provide a secure solution to bridge the customer operator vertical wall-garden and the horizontal DRM world. While many standards and market-driven initiatives are still struggling to find their place in this industry, we now have the elements to provide a solution with Microsoft," said Nagravision CTO Philippe Stransky.

"Bridging conditional access technologies with digital rights management is a critical component of content distribution in the home," said Digital Keystone CEO Paolo Siccardo. "We are proud to provide the world's first CA-to-DRM bridging technology for the Microsoft/Nagravision reference design."

The importance of delivering secure and scalable business solutions to digital content providers cannot be underestimated as broadcast industry partners extend their reach to PC users who expect to have access to more content in more places than ever before.

Microsoft and Nagravision are uniquely equipped to lead this charge and in doing so will help make seamless and secure access to protected content a reality.