Today’s live venues — sports stadiums, concert halls, corporate facilities and houses of worship — are becoming increasingly sophisticated in both technology and audience experience. With competition from television and streaming services, venues must offer compelling in-person experiences that keep audiences engaged and coming back for more.

Many successful venues are integrating technology that enhances the event rather than distracting from it. Examples include augmented reality visuals that overlay stage performances and interactive mobile apps that connect audiences to the action. System integrators that design and deploy AV systems said understanding the audience is critical when selecting technology. In houses of worship and corporate settings, audio quality typically takes priority, followed by lighting and video.

Hybrid Solutions

At NAB Show, exhibitors and conference sessions are highlighting the tools that make these experiences possible. Professionals increasingly seek systems that combine software-defined flexibility with reliable hardware so they can create and distribute more content efficiently — without exceeding budget limits.

“I think more than ever, system engineers and producers want the biggest bang for the buck,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of Advanced Systems Group (ASG), a longtime systems integrator that installs technology for hundreds of venues each year.

“They’re tasked with producing more content and better distribution systems, but with limited resources. It’s not a new challenge, but it’s getting trickier every year.”

Through technical sessions and panel discussions, attendees are exploring the latest strategies and technologies to support modern venue production.

Despite industry interest, Van Hoy estimated that only about half of live venues have transitioned to SMPTE 2110 IP-based architectures, leaving significant room for upgrades. ASG recently completed such a transition at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the University of Southern California’s football stadium, replacing traditional signal distribution with an IP-based system.

Interactive technology is also reshaping the live event experience. Matt Weiss, vice president of business development and managing partner at BeckTV, said venues increasingly deploy gamified features that encourage participation.

“High-tech, gamified, interactive features help create an intense home-court advantage,” Weiss said. “At the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, seat sensors track fan cheering and movement to reward engagement. An immersive audio system tailors sound to every seat, making each one feel like the best in the arena.”

Immersive Audio Expands

Audio innovation is another major trend. Beyond traditional stereo, venues are adopting immersive formats such as Dolby 5.1, 7.1 and Atmos systems with up to 22 channels. As streaming services began offering immersive audio to consumers at home, expectations for live events changed quickly.

“We’re seeing multichannel audio systems deployed in all kinds of venues,” Van Hoy said. “Concert halls are obvious, but sports stadiums are adopting them too. Broadcasters want immersive sound both for viewers at home and fans in the stadium. Achieving that often involves additional microphones around the field and improved monitoring systems in control rooms.”

New for 2026 is an expanded four-day Sports Summit in the West Hall’s Sports Theater. The program explores how professional and collegiate stadiums are modernizing their facilities.

Advances in Display Technology

Display technology, another key element of live venues, has also advanced significantly. New LED systems offer higher resolution, lower power consumption and more affordable pricing.

NAB Show attendees are seeing the latest models using technologies such as MicroLED, Chip-on-Board (COB) and Glue-on-Board (GOB), which provide improved reliability and reduced moiré patterns compared with traditional display panels.

One notable development involves the Big 12 Conference, which used LED sports flooring developed by Germany-based ASB GlassFloor at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City for its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The system replaces traditional wood floors with LED surfaces capable of displaying graphics and animations during games or events.

Modern 4K and 8K displays are also integrating artificial intelligence to automatically adjust brightness based on ambient lighting, enhance image sharpness through upscaling and monitor performance to predict potential failures.

While large stadiums typically use professional-grade LED displays, smaller facilities such as houses of worship and corporate venues often rely on consumer-
grade commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) displays. However, these systems may not deliver the same durability or performance.

AI Across Workflows

Artificial intelligence is expanding rapidly across the entire production workflow. At NAB Show, hundreds of new products will demonstrate how AI can automate processes and improve efficiency.

In corporate and worship environments, AI tools can track on-stage talent and quickly locate clips in large video libraries. Sports broadcasters are also using AI to automate highlight generation. For example, ESPN now provides automated highlight clips through mobile apps that fans can access while attending games.

Another technology gaining traction is the unified content management system. Modern venues rely on CMS platforms to centralize control of displays, video distribution and digital content.

“For increased efficiency, reduced costs and a better user experience, many venues are upgrading their CMS platforms,” Weiss said. “They enable multiplatform distribution, live-to-VOD workflows, centralized monitoring, rapid clipping and dynamic advertising insertion.”

A recent example is M&T Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens. In collaboration with Ross Video, BeckTV expanded the stadium’s LED display system to enable stadium-wide control. The project added new displays in premium clubs and concourse areas, extending the Ravens’ CMS beyond the main bowl displays.

Better Than 
Watching at Home

To remain competitive, live venues must replicate — and surpass — the production quality audiences experience at home. Today’s facilities are becoming dynamic environments where lighting, sound and visuals respond in real time to performances and audience reactions, often guided by AI-driven analytics.

These efforts reflect a broader trend: Fans increasingly value shared in-person experiences.

A study from venue hosting provider Boldyn Networks suggested 93% of fans prefer attending live events over virtual alternatives.

For venue professionals, NAB Show provides an opportunity to explore these innovations firsthand through exhibit demonstrations, technical sessions and informal discussions with peers.

“NAB Show attendees will discover tools they didn’t even know they needed,” Van Hoy said. “They’ll see technologies still in development that vendors are eager to showcase. It’s an exciting time for venue operators, and NAB Show is the place to see it all in action.”

© 2026 NAB

LAS VEGAS—Complaints from viewers unable to access free over-the-air ATSC 3.0 broadcast signals are giving the standard (aka “NextGen TV”) a black eye in the view of many consumers and the ATSC is using the NAB Show to address those concerns.

As broadcasters gather in Las Vegas for the 2026 NAB Show, April 19-22, the Security Authority (A3SA), member of the broadcast standards group reiterated the importance of securing ATSC 3.0 over-the-air broadcasts and said that the “vast majority” of the 40 or so NextGen TV sets available on the market are fully capable of accessing decrypted broadcast content.

The announcement comes after the Pearl TV consortium announced the launch of a campaign to develop new low-cost $60 or under NextGen TV devices in an effort to kickstart the transition from ATSC 1.0 to 3.0.

In addition to prototype boxes from DTH, Skyworth, and Zinwell, the A3SA will showcase new and existing upgrade receivers from Airwavz, MyVelo TV, and Zapperbox, to demonstrate secure and reliable delivery of ATSC 3.0 broadcast content while delivering new recording and in-home distribution options for consumers and broadcasters. Attendees can check them out at the ATSC Booth in the Central Hall (C1655)

A3SA Managing Director Joe St. Jean explained the importance of securing 3.0 broadcast signals in an age of ever more sophisticated piracy technologies that have long been a mainstay of streaming companies.

“Free, over-the-air television remains one of the most important and accessible platforms for delivering news, sports, and entertainment to American households,” he said. “Content security is a key enabler of that future, giving content owners the confidence to continue making high-value programming available on broadcast TV. We know that content piracy is a real threat and imposes multi-billion dollar revenue losses on the sports industry, particularly.

“It’s a fact that premium sports and live programming increasingly require content protection as a condition of distribution platforms and that broadcasters are competing directly with streaming platforms that have long used content protection,” St. Jean added. “ Without protection, high-value programming will migrate to subscription-based platforms. And content protection helps preserve free over-the-air television as a competitive platform for premium content.

“We’re also pleased to note that A3SA recently commissioned a focused review, conducted by a certified public accounting firm, of A3SA-enabled televisions in the market today. We confirmed that nearly 40 NextGen TV models from Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and TCL, comprising the vast majority of the 18.5 millions A3SA-enabled televisions sold, are fully capable of decrypting protected content, with or without an Internet connection, ensuring that consumers can reliably access the full benefits of next-generation broadcast services.”

New Receiver Innovations on Display:

• Airwavz.tv will showcase the TvXplorer Suite with decryption capabilities for A3SA-protected content. A broadcaster professional analysis tool, the TvXplorer suite’s support for A3SA’s technology protects premium content while enabling seamless delivery to authorized users. TvXplorer delivers trusted protection at scale with enterprise-level security and authentication, ensuring content stays protected from source to screen.
  
• MyVelo TV, a next-generation broadcast-first platform provider, introduces the MyVelo TV Premiere, designed to seamlessly unify free NextGen TV, streaming apps, and premium picture performance into a single experience. Built for how people actually watch TV, MyVelo TV supports all major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG, and Advanced HDR by Technicolor.
  
• The ZapperBox Whole-Home Gateway is available in quad-tuner, dual-tuner, single-tuner, and mini configurations to extend ATSC 3.0 signals throughout the home. Zapperbox will show a new hardware model—the first NextGen TV quad-tuner whole home gateway with Zapper Mini receivers for secondary rooms. ZapperBox will also showcase a new software release with Advanced HDR by Technicolor for dual-tuner and quad-tuner receivers.

SAN DIEGO—In a major development in the effort to combat the spread of fake-AI generated images and video, Sony Electronics has unveiled what it is calling “the industry's first camera authenticity solution compatible with video (C2PA standard-compliant).”

The launch is part of an ongoing effort by Sony to provide verification technology to address growing concerns about the impact of tampered and fake images.

Through initiatives and verification experiments, Sony reported that it has validated the authenticity of video content in collaboration with the Research & Development Department of the UK's public broadcaster BBC.

In addition, the company works closely with the C2PA (The Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity), a standards organization that develops open standards and technical specifications for the provenance and authenticity of digital content, serving as a Steering Committee Member since March 2022.

Sony said that its camera authenticity solution verification site enables authenticity verification for both still images and videos, confirming that content was captured by a Sony camera rather than AI-generated, the company reported.

The system can also detect 3D depth information in video content, enabling highly accurate verification that videos were captured of actual, existing subjects. In addition, a trim function that allows extraction and verification of only necessary portions while maintaining signatures enables rapid authenticity verification even for large-capacity video files.

Sony cameras supporting recording of authenticity information for video include:

• Interchangeable-lens cameras: Alpha 1 II, Alpha 9 III
• Cinema line cameras: FX3, FX30
• The newly launched XDCAM Memory Camcorder: PXW-Z300iv

More information is available at https://authenticity.sony.net/camera/en-gb/

LONDON—Pathé has selected Synamedia ContentArmor forensic watermaking to protect premium content on its Pathé Home D2C Transactional VOD (TVOD) streaming service in France by identifying the origin of leaks and taking disruptive countermeasures.

Pathé will safeguard its investment in thousands of movies, including 4K UHD content, across all devices while complying with content owner agreements.

“After evaluating the watermarking options available, we chose to partner with Synamedia because ContentArmor ensures we maintain the high levels of video quality that our users associate with our brand, as well as keeping a tight lid on encoding costs. Safeguarding the content of our partners is crucial for Pathé, and with ContentArmor, we are able to embed imperceptible watermarks in our content, identify the individual accounts of unauthorized users and malicious actors, and take action accordingly,” said Pathé head of platform and video Ivar van der Burg.

Synemedia said Pathé selected ContentArmor because it is well-regarded by Hollywood studios. It also offers the integration flexibility and cost effectiveness Pathé requires. Unlike other solutions that encode content multiple times to insert the watermark, ContentArmor only encodes content once, reducing both the complexity and cost of securing premium 4K UHD content, Synamedia said.

As a server-side solution, ContentArmor supports the highest security standards for session-based watermarking, ensuring robust protection for Pathé’s assets, the company said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

With the total value of the global digital video market estimated at $193 billion in 2023 and expected to explode to more than $503 billion by 2032—according to IMARC Group—that growth rate of nearly 11% represents a market that needs to make content protection a top priority.

“The growth trajectory means it will be a dereliction of responsibility for companies in the digital content space that derogate or underfund efforts to protect their investments and IP,” said Emeka Okoli, senior vice president of business solutions with Zixi, a secure content streaming platform provider for companies such as Amazon, Bloomberg, Apple, Fubo and Roku. “All linearized content, including big-screen VOD assets, are fair game to the bad guys who also see a gold mine.”

In the past, broadcasters and content producers could live with a certain level of piracy and look the other way, according to Asaf Ashkenazi, CEO of Verimatrix; developer of streaming security solutions such as Verimatrix Streamkeeper, whose Counterspy module uses AI to anticipate attacks. “However, today’s incredibly competitive market forces everyone to be more efficient and make sure they don’t share their value with cybercriminals and pirates.”

A Wide Range of Threats
Given the multibillion-dollar value of digital video content, it’s not surprising that it’s under attack from many directions. “Key threats include piracy, content leakage, theft and illegal distribution, all of which compromise content monetization,” said Ian Hamilton, CTO of Signiant, known for its SaaS solutions that support secure content exchange within and between media organizations. “Piracy and illegal distribution result in lost revenue from unauthorized access, while content leakage and theft devalue exclusive releases.”

There is a mind-boggling variety of threat actors doing their best to steal content and then profit from that theft, according to Hamilton. “Threat actors range from organized crime groups and hackers to insiders, individual pirates, and even state actors,” he said. “Organized crime groups run piracy operations for profit, distributing stolen content through illegal channels. Hackers may target content for financial gain or to disrupt media companies. Insiders, such as employees or contractors, might leak content for personal or financial reasons. Individual pirates steal content for notoriety or minor profits, while state actors may pursue political or economic objectives.”

To make matters worse, today’s video content pirates are not the stereotypical lone hackers sitting in a darkened theater with a camcorder, or recording video streams on their home computer and then sharing those copies with friends. In many cases, “they are organized just like a profitable digital streaming business, often operating across borders with sophisticated operations centered around one goal: making money at the expense of hard-working content providers and video distributors,” said Ashkenazi.

The Pros and Cons of AI
The advent of AI isn’t helping. “AI enables threat actors to automate attacks, enhance social engineering, and create deepfakes,” said Hamilton. “It facilitates rapid identification of vulnerabilities and streamlines the theft and distribution process.”

The bottom line: “Anyone who can steal content probably will,” observed Ben Jones, director of solutions marketing at MediaKind. “Their motivations include profit from selling pirated content or bypassing paywalls to watch stolen content for their own personal gain.”

Advances in technology are aiding thieves in their attempts to steal digital video content, but technology is also helping content producers and distributors to better protect themselves against such theft. This technology is being harnessed by companies like Akamai, MediaKind, Signiant, Verimatrix and Zixi, to deter and disable such attacks when they occur.

At MediaKind, their clients are increasing their use of digital watermarking—hiding unique, traceable identifier data within the content, so that owners of pirated content can be found and alerted. “At any point in the chain where there’s been a detection of leaked content, we can work out where that occurred using watermarking,” Jones said. “With this data, content owners can point their lawyers at the pirates, and force them to take the content down.”

Upgrading Encryption
Increasing the complexity of cipher blocks and secure algorithms is also making it harder for thieves to steal content digitally. “The older encryption system used a 42-bit key; now we are moving into 228- and 256-bit keys, which are much more military-style and secure,” said Jones. “We’re also using measures such as DRM [digital rights management] and real-time content monitoring online.”

Zixi’s SDVP and telemetry plane, Zen Master, includes high AES encryption. “We also provide DRM functionalities that utilize DTLS [Datagram Transport Layer Security], which safeguards against stream ripping, eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks and fraudulent endpoints by verifying the receiving device’s certificate of authenticity,” Okoli said.

“From an Akamai lens, since we’re dealing mainly with streaming services delivering video content to end users, primary threats to content include theft, piracy, rebroadcasting, automated scraping and account hijacking,” noted Tedd Smith, solutions engineering manager at Akamai Technologies. “These types of actions can be incredibly damaging, causing everything from decreases in viewership, loss of content rights, brand damage, increase in enforcement costs, and revenue loss.”

“Furthermore, Zixi’s platform includes DPDK (Data Plane Development Kit) high-performance networking, enabling content to operate at the network layer, bypassing the operating system and effectively blocking potential OS-based ransom malware. With Zixi’s new multi-hop product, we can offer customers upstream metadata observability which will help companies proactively trace their content incoming digital journey and footprint.”

Signiant’s content protection protocol employs integrated multilayered strategies to protect its clients. “This includes using AI for real-time monitoring and threat detection, applying strict access controls based on least privilege, and employing encryption,” said Hamilton. As well, “Minimizing copies of content by interfacing with customer-owned storage reduces exposure and potential vulnerabilities.”

Akamai and Verimatrix also use the many content protection strategies described above.

Constant vigilance is another important tool: “Visibility is a key component of content protection as well, especially when dealing with direct-to-consumer delivery,” Smith said. “This is critical during live events when immediate mitigation is a top priority. Having real-time visibility into traffic patterns and user behavior allows streaming services to quickly catch things like stream-sharing and rebroadcasting so access can be revoked.”

Overall, “our commitment is to make piracy unprofitable, illegal distribution unsustainable, and content security an enabler of business growth rather than merely a compliance checkbox,” said Ashkenazi.

Verimatrix’s position is shared by the content protection companies interviewed for this story, all of which want to ensure that crime does not pay for pirates, and that legitimate video producers/distributors continue to profit from the multibillion-dollar value of their content.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Irdeto is expanding its partnership with Evergent, naming the company a "key technology partner" for subscription management and monetization within the Irdeto Experience aggregation platform.

The companies’ expanded collaboration will allow OTT providers to leverage advanced customer management and monetization capabilities within the Evergent Monetization Platform, alongside Irdeto's unified streaming back-end UX/UI, and security and content protection solutions. The combined service will enable streaming services to implement sophisticated pricing strategies, reduce churn, and maximize customer lifetime value while ensuring the highest levels of content security, the companies said.

As the streaming industry shifts its focus from subscriber growth to retention and profitability amid macroeconomic pressures, streaming companies, pay-TV operators and platform providers are diversifying their content and service offerings to create stickier propositions that maximize loyalty and revenue per user. Enabling effective bundling and super aggregation is critical for tier one media organizations and OTT providers that want to deepen customer billing relationships and provide value-added services that include a wider range of niche and local content, gaming and IoT devices, according to Irdeto.

"Streaming subscribers need to see more value from their services and feel understood with personalized, intuitive experiences," said Vijay Sajja, founder and CEO of Evergent. "Deepening our partnership with Irdeto enables our mutual customers to seamlessly diversify their service offering while harnessing next-generation data analytics and advanced churn prevention tools to maximize revenues and loyalty."

“Tier one media companies and content providers must deliver more comprehensive, user-centric streaming propositions to retain audiences and grow new revenues”, said Doug Lowther, CEO of Irdeto. “Our partnership with Evergent equips Irdeto Experience with rich and agile monetization tools that power unique user experiences, future-ready analytics and revenue game-changers for OTT providers.”

The announcement marks an expansion of Irdeto’s partnership with Evergent, first unveiled in September 2023.

BERGEN, Norway—Vizrt has announced several new senior appointments focusing on enhancing the company’s customer security, experience, and channel business.

Heading up the IT team is Petra Tesch, Vizrt’s Chief Information Officer, while its newly promoted Chief Security Officer, Elie Feghaly, spearheads the organization’s cybersecurity, which fortifies the security of Vizrt’s on-premises infrastructure, cloud environments, and proprietary software, the company said.

“The trust that our customers and partners have for both Vizrt, and its products are paramount. Our comprehensive approach ensures robust protection across the board at Vizrt, safeguarding both our own assets and our customer's data against the evolving cyber threats,” Elie Feghaly, Chief Security Officer.

Both Petra and Elie report to Vizrt’s Chief Finance Officer, Pierre Milet. Pierre joined Vizrt in January 2024 and brings over 30 years of financial and commercial leadership experience from global technology firms and is tasked with accelerating Vizrt’s SaaS business.

Targeting Vizrt’s focus on sustainability compliance, Vizrt has hired Avinash Kumar as its ESG Controller. His expertise extends to integrating sustainable practices, addressing ESG-related concerns, and navigating the evolving regulatory landscape, including compliance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), according to the company.

Avinash’s commitment to environmental stewardship and corporate governance excellence positions him as an asset for Vizrt, and its customers’ pursuit of responsible business practices, Vizrt said.

“Vizrt’s focus on sustainability is not merely a corporate responsibility—it is a strategic advantage that significantly benefits our customers and partners. By embedding sustainable practices within our operations, we ensure long-term viability, resilience, and a better future,” states Michael Hallén, Chief Executive Officer, Vizrt.

Two additional senior appointments include Paul Shutt as Vizrt’s new Head of Channel Sales for APAC and Karl Bradford, Head of Channel Sales for America and Canada.

Since joining Vizrt in Asia Pacific in 2011 as a System Engineer, Shutt has advanced through several key roles, including Deputy Global Head of Customer Success.

Bradford joins Vizrt from Apple where he spent more than a decade building channel development at Apple. Bradford and his team of channel account managers within the Americas’ market will work directly with Vizrt’s channel partner community to gather feedback on product, market trends, training requirements and commercial opportunities to enable a prosperous channel network, the company said.

“Our channel partners are crucial to enable scalable growth for our company, and to reach our vision of enabling any size content creator with the best tools, whether a podcaster or a broadcaster. By democratizing access to our top-tier broadcast products and focusing on upskilling and certifying our partners with the latest tech, we can ensure they are the first to adapt to the evolving market demands and deliver exactly what our users need,” concludes Marco Kraak, General Manager, Channel Sales, Vizrt. 

SEOUL, Korea—Sinclair Broadcast Group said today that it is partnering with Korean-based content security provider Digicap to install a new system to automate ATSC 3.0 security certificate management. Sinclair will install the system, called Centralized Certificate Lifecycle Management System (CCMS), in collaboration with digital certificate management company Eonti.

Content security has been among the most contentious issues during the rollout of ATSC 3.0, with many viewers complaining about broadcasters encrypting 3.0 signals. Aware of these concerns, broadcasters are moving forward to resolve these issues to help spur interest in NextGen TV. The implementation of CCMS could help fill in the gaps by providing a more streamlined broadcast security environment. 

Because ATSC 3.0 services may integrate Internet functionality with broadcast programming, broadcasters use such digital certificates to help reduce the potential security risk from unknown or unauthorized broadcast signals. Managing these digital certificates can be a complex and time-consuming task, especially for large station groups. A station must register a digital certificate the day ATSC 3.0 transmission begins and renew it every year or two thereafter. Further, because ATSC 3.0 stations launch at different times, certificate renewal dates are spread throughout the year, making it more difficult to ensure certificates are valid.

CCMS uses pre-populated information to automate and simplify the management and operational tasks of ATSC 3.0 digital certificates, significantly streamlining the process. CCMS works in collaboration with Eonti to automate the lifecycle management of security certificates. In the lead up to a certificate renewal, CCMS alerts notify involved parties. CCMS can pre-populate necessary forms, manage form submission, monitor responses, and notify all parties when compliance steps are met—or users can choose to have CCMS simply provide notification when certificates need to be renewed. By streamlining certificate management, CCMS frees station personnel to concentrate on more pressing tasks.

“Sinclair is proud to participate in this pioneering initiative to effortlessly manage our NextGen Broadcast transmission security protocols,” said Paul Spinelli, AVP Engineering for Sinclair. “We take our broadcast signal security very seriously. With new business models developing for NextGen Broadcast, we needed to secure our signal to ensure our viewers can trust the integrity of our broadcast. 

“As the broadcaster with the largest number of NextGen Broadcast sites, we knew manually performing this work was inefficient and not sustainable,” Spinelli added. “CCMS enables us to do this more efficiently and with reduced effort across our operations, ultimately accelerating the transition to NextGen Broadcasting.”

“We love to help broadcast stations solve their problems as they move to more software-based and cloud-based solutions,” said Joonyoung Park, SVP for DigiCAP. “We made it easier for broadcasters by building CCMS on top of our software development and operation platform to provide rapid software development and validation with secure operations. We are committed to supporting our broadcast station customers and partners moving forward with next generation broadcast platforms.”

"We are at a transformative juncture in broadcasting, where the integration of ATSC 3.0's advanced security and content protection capabilities with our digital certificate lifecycle management expertise is set to redefine industry standards,” said Oscar Marcia, CEO of Eonti. “Our collaboration with DigiCAP and Sinclair Broadcast Group in deploying the CCMS not only underscores our commitment to leveraging technology to enhance broadcast security while also streamlining operational efficiencies for broadcasters. 

"This initiative leverages the expertise and technology of DigiCAP and Eonti to help broadcasters manage digital certificates, ensure content integrity and trust for consumers,” Marcia continued. “Eonti is proud to contribute our deep-rooted knowledge in PKI and cybersecurity to enable seamless, secure, and scalable broadcasting solutions to the industry.”

LOS ANGELES—The Trusted Partner Network (TPN), has released Version 5.2 of the Motion Picture Association (MPA) Content Security Best Practices. 

The TPA is an industry-wide content security initiative that is owned and managed by the MPA.

The group said that the update will help companies of all sizes across the entire media chain further manage their security vulnerabilities. 

The updates in the Best Practices include a crucial requirement for Software Application Providers to provide hardening guidelines, which comprise the security measures and best practices on applications to prevent cyber-attacks. 

The TPN+ platform will now serve as the centralized repository for these important documents at a version level for TPN members to update and/or source in line with TPN’s mission to raise industry security standards, the group said. 

“The update demonstrates TPN’s commitment to progress and to creating an environment that facilitates gathering and responding to feedback from our members,” said Crystal Pham, vice president, operations and product management at TPN. “This ongoing collaboration provides us with the opportunity to continually evolve the Best Practices, improve the assessment process, and enhance the user experience. Part of our initiative includes the regular release of Best Practice revisions.”

In addition, the new version introduces a more in-depth approach to the Best Practices that address remote content handling, work-from-home, physical assets, and data centers, which enables enhanced scoping for the TPN assessment. 

TPN+ and the accompanying TPN assessment questionnaire have also been updated to make it easier for Service / Software Provider members to manage their profiles and assessments and communicate their security preparedness status to Content Owners. 

TPN continues to provide clear minimum security preparedness requirements via the Best Practices and Additional Recommendations (previously referred to as Implementation Guidance) in a framework that supports varying levels of acceptable risk. This gives members a holistic picture of security status by topic, which also helps Service Providers create a thorough Security Remediation Plan, if necessary.

Maintained by TPN, the MPA Best Practices provides an important framework and recommendations for securely managing and protecting content in the cloud and on-site, including work-from-home and software applications. TPN also leverages the MPA Best Practices to develop the TPN assessment questionnaire.

With a growing membership of more than 650 Content Owners, Service Providers, and Software Application companies across 52 countries, TPN is focused on improving security by making the security assessment process more straightforward, and implementing clear, concise, and comprehensive best practices for the media and entertainment industry while raising the bar for industry security standards. 

By constantly gathering feedback and insights from member companies, industry partners, and adapting to emerging trends, the updated MPA Best Practices serve as a security benchmark managed to keep pace with industry transformation and technology evolution, the TPA said. 

More information is available here.  

 Adobe and Frame.io, which is owned by Adobe, have announced that they have joined TPN+. 

TPN+ was launched this week as part of enhancements to the Motion Picture Association’s Trusted Partner Network content security initiative. 

TPN is a global, industry-wide content protection initiative overseen by the MPA to provide a set of requirements and best practices to prevent leaks, breaches, and hacks of pre-released, high-value media content. By creating a single, global directory of “trusted partner” vendors, content companies have access to a centralized database with their TPN status, TPN said. 

To further improve security, TPN announced recently that it was expanding its security assessments from site security to include SaaS-based cloud providers and their apps and launching TPN+.

The newly launched TPN+ platform and the new Cloud Security Assessment are designed to help the industry benefit from the rapidly advancing requirements of enhanced security awareness, preparedness, and capability as more and more productions rely on the cloud, TPN reported. 

Eight of the biggest content owners are members of TPN, including Universal, Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Apple.

In a blog post, Jason Druss, product marketing manager at Frame.io noted that “Frame.io has always made security the cornerstone of its platform since day one. That’s why today we’re excited to announce that along with Adobe video cloud services, we are proud early adopters of the TPN+ platform.”

“Although TPN compliance has always been voluntary, Frame.io has always treated it as a requirement and has been compliant since TPN’s inception in 2018. Now, we’re redoubling our efforts with Adobe to provide even greater support for our customers—and to allow both our existing and new customers to discover faster, more efficient, and more secure workflows,” he continued. 

“That Adobe and Frame.io are among those invited to join as members and early adopters of the TPN+ platform speaks to the fact that these studios depend on our products to create their content—and that we pledge to provide them with the utmost in security,” he concluded. 

WASHINGTON—Pearl TV, the consortium of nine station groups working to advance local NextGen TV, has added a new webinar scheduled for Aug. 19 to its ongoing series of ATSC 3.0 webcasts.

The consortium split the one-hour content security and protection webinar scheduled for Aug. 12 into two separate 60-minute educational webcasts, says Dave Folsom, Pearl TV lead technical engineer.

“We realized once we got into it that it was going to take more than just one webinar,” says Folsom. “It’s an awful lot to take in in just one hour.”

The Aug. 12 webinar on content security, presented by Peter Van Peenen, a technology consultant to Pearl TV, will examine the means by which ATSC 3.0 protects a broadcaster’s signal from “bad players” who might copy material or take other steps to distribute NextGen TV content illegally, says Folsom.

The webinar also will look at the role of the ATSC 3 Security Authority (A3SA), an independent organization set up by Pearl TV, the stations participating in the Phoenix Model Market and TV networks to oversee content security policies.

During the Aug. 19 webinar, Van Peenen and Oscar Marcia, president and CEO of Eonti Inc., will present on the service protection provisions of ATSC 3.0. Unlike content security, which is designed to protect against theft, service protection protects against “man-in-the-middle” attacks, says Folsom.

Using a certificate authentication process—not dissimilar to the concept used to ensure a web browser is on the website that a user desires—ATSC 3.0 provides for making sure a TV receiver is actually looking at a TV station, says Folsom. Eonti manages the public and private key authority set up to certify viewers are receiving the signal they intended to receive, he adds.

Online registration for the Content Security webinar on Aug. 12 and the Service Protection webinar on Aug. 19 is available on the Pearl TV website. 

LOS ANGELES—It might seem like a tall order to chart where content production should be in 10 years, but that’s exactly the task MovieLabs tackled in a recently published white paper laid out by Jim Helman, CTO of the non-profit research lab, during his Oct. 22 keynote during the 2019 Annual SMPTE Technical Conference and Exhibition at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel.

“So, why are we doing this now?” Helman asked, rhetorically. “The move is motivated by several changes… [that are coming] together to really create a transitional point now where we have the opportunity to change the future of production in a way that will benefit the entire community.”

Chief among the changes are the growing availability of bandwidth and the availability of real-time computing engines, which at the moment are most widely deployed in pre-visualization applications but hold the potential to unlock many other workflow benefits in television and motion picture production, he said.

The white paper, “The Evolution of Media Creation,” was authored by contributors from MovieLabs member studios, including Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal Studio, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers Studios.

It lays out 10 principles underpinning MovieLabs’ vision for 2030 that are categorized into three buckets: a new cloud foundation; security and access; and software-defined workflows.

“Most fundamental… is that assets go up to the cloud, and they stay in the cloud,” said Helman. “And the applications come to the assets rather than transferring files… from one facility to another facility.”

For this goal to be achieved, it will be important for vendors to be able to deploy their applications into multi-cloud environments. Helman acknowledged that this goal “is a little bit aspirational” because it is very likely post houses and VFX facilities will continue to work in their own cloud.

“We need to enable the ability to have multicloud applications…,” he said. “We think… [it is] very important to have abstraction layers that can allow these applications to be easily moved to whatever cloud is needed or to share data across clouds.”

Of course, with the cloud at the foundation of production 10 years hence, security and access become critical. Uploading assets to the cloud will mean media organizations no longer have “a well-defined perimeter” around their facility, and the same is true for hybrid cloud setups, he said.

“So, we really need to think about security and make it more asset-centric and more capable so you can address a wide range of production,” said Helman.

Helman introduced the concept of scalability to securing media assets in the cloud. While one studio might want to employ the most stringent set of security measures for a high-budget blockbuster, another, such as the producer of a cooking show, may not be too concerned about a segment showing up on YouTube because little revenue is at stake, he said.

The white paper also advocates for software-defined workflows in the future. Real-time engines, such as the Epic Games Unreal Engine, will one day enable a new degree of flexibility in building media workflows, he said.

With the television industry in a transition to live production over IP, the benefits of such a change are clear. Most notably, IP production can offer a more dynamic, agile and, in some cases, cost-efficient content creation process compared to its more rigid predecessor, SDI.

However, amid this transition, the industry is also beginning to better understand some of the potential drawbacks of IP production and what obstacles stand in the way. For example, as the consumption path has widened and become more complex, so has the surface for security attacks and threats. Spanning service disruption, loss of data and even loss of content through piracy or unauthorized viewership, security risks are among the biggest hurdles to overcome during this transition to IP.

So how can the industry not only mitigate these emerging risks but also stay ahead of the curve to take full advantage of IP live production? Content distributors will be best suited for what lies ahead by focusing on infrastructure security, protecting viewer data and securing the content itself.

BOLSTERING INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY

It’s important to remember that with such a broad attack surface inherent to IP delivery, securing the entire consumption path is key. Attacks can originate at multiple touchpoints, from content acquisition to the customer experience itself.

Preventing service outages or disruptions along this path is often the main goal. For example, quality of service can be jeopardized by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, which is a type of cyberattack that attempts to make a service unavailable. Malware, which is designed to maliciously disrupt the normal operation of a service, and ransomware attacks, which force victims to pay a ransom to cybercriminals to regain access to content, are other examples of common cyberattacks that can disrupt content delivery.

Regardless of the type of attack, media organizations should consider security protocols that have massive scale and multiple layers of protection given these complexities. For example, for companies with cloud-based workflows, storage and other assets, the ability to stop attacks in the cloud is key. By doing so, threats can be mitigated before they reach an organization's critical applications or data centers, a point where significant disruptions can occur.

With bots playing a growing role in cyberattacks, a thorough bot management program is important to consider. However, because not all bots are created equal, flexible management strategies for the different types of bots that an organization could come across can be important for overall success when it comes to mitigating bot-based threats.

Regardless of the specific solution, it’s important to remember the complexity of these security risks and the need to focus on each stage of the content delivery process, including the acquisition, production and distribution stages.

PROTECTING TROVES OF VIEWER DATA

Today’s consumers expect a flawless viewing experience. But with data breaches becoming far too common and personal data often exposed as a result—not to mention an increased focus on data privacy—ensuring that such information is protected is now a crucial part of this overall experience.

In the age of social media, users are not shy about expressing their dissatisfaction with a service or product, meaning a single instance of compromised user information can permanently tarnish a brand’s reputation. In a world with so many content distributors and services to choose from, it doesn’t take much to lose a viewer or subscriber.

One growing trend is the credential stuffing attack, in which hackers use bots to access stolen login information to access user accounts. The scope of these attacks is massive—Akamai reported 55 billion credential stuffing attacks between November 2017 to March 31, 2019. Investing in modern bot detection and blocking solutions that leverage AI and machine learning can greatly reduce these threats.

KEEPING CONTENT SECURE

The value of content is skyrocketing in today’s competitive industry. Just look at Amazon, which is paying $130 million for two years of rights to stream the NFL on Thursday nights, separate from the rights other broadcasters are paying to air games over traditional network and pay television. It’s evident that content is becoming more valuable than ever, but with this trend comes growing security risks.

In fact, the content itself is only becoming a bigger target for cybercriminals—from hackers to content pirates—who see dollar signs in exploiting such a growing market. With IP delivery, the attack surface for tapping into this content is much wider and thus content distributors should consider strong safeguards to secure their most valuable asset.

Recent data suggests that piracy can cost the industry as much as $71 billion annually. And while the industry recognizes the problem, an Akamai survey of media technology influencers and decision-makers found that only 1% are “very confident” in their current security measures to address the issue.

Media encryption can be a great place to start to address content protection challenges. Investing in this approach ensures a unique encryption key is established for each delivered media segment and can offer message integrity verification data to prevent the theft of content during delivery. Tokenization can also make sure that only viewers that have been properly authenticated can access content, while geo and IP-based blocking can guarantee the same. Additionally, watermarking can be an effective strategy to prevent piracy. By adding unique watermarking to identify the source or recipient of content, each copy can be differentiated from stolen content, allowing organizations to find the true source of the piracy.

SECURING THE INDUSTRY’S FUTURE

By prioritizing investments into infrastructure security, protecting consumers and their data, and ensuring the content itself is secure, the industry will not only allow for a smooth transition to IP live delivery but will also ensure that IP delivery has the right foundation to securely succeed for years to come.

IP live delivery is the future, but only if we safeguard it.

Ritika Tandon is solutions engineering manager at Akamai.