Deborah D. McAdams / 03.09.2011 12:00AM
Mobile DTV Group Lines Up Conditional-Access Technology
WASHINGTON: The folks hawking mobile DTV have selected
cipher that will enable subscription services. The Open Mobile Video Coalition
tapped the UltraViolet digital rights locker maintained by Neustar, which provides a
buy-once, play anywhere scheme for end users. One of the main reasons mobile
DTV proponents say it will thrive in a crowded market is free access, but the
business model is shaping up to provide for at least some level of pay service.
“Some content owners require conditional access, even for free over-the-air
broadcasts,” OMVC spokesman Dave Arland said. “The selection of Neustar is the
next step for mobile DTV, paving the way for a combination of free and subscription
programming.”
Secure UltraViolet deployments are expected to begin later this year, as
broadcasters continue to ramp up mobile over-the-air digital television
service. A total of 52 stations in 27 markets now transmit in A/153, the mobile
standard for digital over-the-air broadcast TV service. (
See “These
52 Stations Now Transmit Mobile DTV.”)
Neustar will be the mobile DTV “trust authority,” issuing and managing digital
certificates and providing online content tracking “from registration to
ordering, delivery, authentication, status checking and revocation,” OMVC said.
The OMVC, established in 2007, is one of three main industry organizations
working on mobile digital television. The
membership comprises
companies with 900 TV stations collectively, including Belo, Cox, Capitol,
Dispatch, Fisher, Gray, Gannett, UNCU, ION, Media General, LIN, Meredith,
Raycom, Post-Newsweek, Fox, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair and others.
The Mobile Content Venture was rolled out at last April’s NAB Show in Las Vegas
and includes Fox, NBC, ION, Belo, Cox, Gannett, Hearst, E.W. Scripps, Meredith,
Post-Newsweek and Raycom. Where the OMVC focused on bringing mobile DTV
capability to the market, Mobile Content Venture focused on content rights and
business models.
Before MCV was formed, NBC and Fox executives indicated a preference to charge
for mobile video, even though subscription cell-phone video packages have had
lukewarm reception from the public. MCV tapped Switzerland’s Nagra-Kudelski for
its pay wall and rights management.
In January, the group announced that Dell and Samsung had agreed to make
receivers with Nagra-Kudelski encryption. It also aligned with MobiTV, the
Emeryville, Calif. company that provides mobile content for cell-phone
providers. MCV is picking up applications from MobiTV to combine access to live
broadcast TV and streaming video. MCV said it intended to have 20 stations transmitting
A/153 by the end up this year.
The third group pushing mobile DTV--the Mobile500 Alliance--was formed last
fall of broadcast groups comprising 340 stations in 167 U.S. markets. The
Mobile500 was formed to some degree in reaction to the formation of MCV, which
excluded the members of the Mobile500. Members include Sinclair, Fisher,
Freedom, LIN, Nexstar, Gray, McGraw-Hill, Tribune and others. Former public
broadcasting executive John Lawson was appointed executive director in
November.
The group is now working on content and consumer device arrangements. More
specifics are expected to be announced at the 2011 NAB Show in Las Vegas next
month.
-- Deborah D. McAdams