CDSA

IBC 2019: NAGRA Lands New Content Protection Partnerships

Content protection and multiscreen TV solutions provider NAGRA is heading into IBC 2019 with a full head of steam, announcing new partnerships just ahead of the show in Amsterdam.

Cable and satellite operator DIGI-RCS & RDS (Digi Romania), the largest pay TV service provider in Central and Eastern Europe, said it has deployed NAGRA cardless content protection technology, provided in a conditional access module (CAM) by SmarDTV, across Romania and Hungary. It marks the first deployment of NAGRA cardless content protection in a CAM, and is based on new technology that accommodates the co-existence of smartcard and cardless security clients, to better secure an operator’s services.

“We’re excited to partner with DIGI on the first deployment of our cardless content protection technology in CAM modules,” said Thierry Legrand, SVP of EMEA sales for NAGRA. “Our cardless solutions provide an unprecedented level of security by leveraging NAGRA proprietary hardware secure block in the chipset of the CAM and help operators like DIGI-RCS & RDS to easily deliver next generation services seamlessly across card-based and cardless environments.”

Valentin Popoviciu, VP of DIGI’s board of directors, added: “By deploying new cardless CAMs, we’re able to provide a next generation solution to keep our pay TV services secure and maintain low subscriber acquisition costs, while providing our subscribers with a convenient solution to access our pay TV services. We’re pleased to work with NAGRA on this latest deployment and leverage their content protection solutions in a cardless environment.”

The NAGRA cardless CAM was developed by SmarDTV, and includes a plastic casing with customized branding for RCS & RDS. Integrated with NAGRA content protection and adhering to the DVB CI Plus standard, the new cardless CAM allows pay TV operators to deliver content directly to integrated TV sets (iDTV) through broadcast or broadband IP networks, without the need for a set-top box.

SmarDTV Global said the two-step watermarking solution available on the CAM “provides the highest degree of assurance to content owners,” by first watermarking the video pre-processing step (accomplished by the NAGRA NexGuard PayTV-C watermarking technology integrated into the encoder), and then with a post-processing step done by a lightweight client running into the SmarDTV Module. The approach touts key advantages, including a low bandwidth overhead for watermarked content, no additional latency on signalization, and balance between processing being done by the encoder and by the module itself.

“Tracing illicit content activity is a necessary and critical first step in fighting today’s greatest piracy challenges, such as the illegal re-distribution of live sports,” said Jean-Philippe Plantevin, VP of NAGRA anti-piracy. “NAGRA is pleased to collaborate with SmarDTV Global to provide a solution working on legacy CI Plus TV & Consumer CI Plus modules.”

Hervé Mathieu, SmarDTV Global COO, added: “SmarDTV Global has been at the forefront of the Conditional Access Module deployment with the focus to pro-actively support pay TV operators’ business and content owners. With more than 10 million CI Plus Modules deployed over the last decade, it is a natural step forward to enrich our products with a state-of-the-art watermarking technology.”