M+E Daily

‘DECE’ Consortium Unveils Digital Entertainment Standard

The major studios, technology providers, and other companies comprising the 48-member Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) together announced on Jan. 4 an open “common file format” standard for digital entertainment.

The Common File Format is designed to play on any service or device built to DECE specifications – whether via Internet, Mobile, Cable or IPTV – to make the “buy once, play anywhere” consumer proposition a reality. Full technical specifications will be available in the first half of 2010, the trade group says.

The standard will enable content providers to encode and encrypt a single file type in portable, standard definition and high definition versions for multiple vendors. Content delivery networks, meanwhile, will not have to store different file types to accommodate retailers’ varying needs.

DECE has approved five DRMs that will be compatible with the Common File Format – Adobe Flash Access, CMLA-OMA V2, The Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady and Widevine. Compatibility with multiple DRMs, the group says, will ensure that content can be played back via streaming or download on a wide variety of services and devices.

Additionally, DECE has selected Neustar, Inc. as the vendor for the Digital Rights Locker, a cloud-based authentication service and account management hub that will allow consumers to access digital entertainment. It will authenticate rights to view content from multiple services, with multiple devices as well as manage content and registration of devices in consumer accounts. DECE will provide an open Application Programming Interface (API) that allows any Web-enabled storefront, service or device to integrate access to the Digital Rights Locker into its own consumer offering.