WASHINGTON—ATSC 3.0 Security Authority, LLC is once again defending the digital rights management features and the Emergency Alert System capabilities of NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 with a sharp rebuttal of arguments made by Weigel Broadcasting to the Federal Communications Commission.

In a June 26 letter to the FCC, the A3SA stressed that “A3SA-suppported devices are designed to be fully compatible with the Commission’s Emergency Alert System (EAS) and to ensure that emergency alerts are reliably delivered to viewers. That is how the A3SA content protection framework was designed, and that is how it operates across the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem.”

While recent filings by Weigel Broadcasting Co. suggested that issues identified with the delivery of EAS alerts are somehow indicative of fundamental incompatibilities between ATSC 3.0 and EAS, the A3SA stressed that “this is simply not true. All broadcasters, and A3SA, share Weigel’s commitment to ensuring that EAS messages are reliably delivered to all viewers.2 Weigel’s filing, however, fundamentally mischaracterizes the source of the identified EAS issues, since those failures stem directly from implementation choices made by specific manufacturers – and have nothing to do with ATSC 3.0 or its key aspects including digital rights management (`DRM’) and other content protection features.”

The letter stressed that DRM systems in nearly all ATSC 3.0 capable devices are working as designed. “Every ATSC 3.0 television being manufactured today supports DRM and the millions of televisions and other devices operating today demonstrate that DRM does not impede, limit, or affect the reception of EAS messages,” the letter noted.

The problems, the group added, stem simply from two tested devices. “Weigel’s test results reflect the implementation decisions of the two particular manufacturers who produced the devices that were tested,” the group said. “They do not establish that DRM, content protection, or any other ATSC 3.0 features interfere with EAS delivery.”

In the case of the other box, “the BitRouter ZapperBox issue identified by Weigel is a device-configuration matter, not indicative of a DRM or ATSC 3.0 problem,” the group said. “ZapperBox is an outlier among A3SA-enabled set-top devices because, in its current implementation, it requires an initial Internet connection to obtain an over-the-top (`OTT') license needed to process encrypted content on a channel. That choice reflects ZapperBox’s connected-device use case: it is a higher-end set-top product, with DVR capabilities, intended for consumers who typically use it in an Internet-connected environment, where it operates as intended. However, the Internet connection is not a permanent requirement. Once the OTT license is obtained, the license persists and continues to function without an Internet connection. The box can then be disconnected from the Internet and will continue to operate, including decrypting video and audio and displaying EAS messages embedded in the broadcast stream. Weigel’s presentation again takes a connected-use device at a specific pre-license stage, removes the connectivity needed for that initial license acquisition, and then treats the result as evidence of a DRM problem. That characterization is false.”

The letter also complained that “Weigel’s presentation creates the false impression that Internet connectivity is a systemic requirement for ATSC 3.0 content protection. The opposite is true. A3SA specifically designed and engineered its content protection solution for OTA broadcast transmissions without ever needing an Internet connection. All devices that support the A3SA framework are provisioned with factory installed licenses which facilitates the “never-connected” to the Internet mode of operation. There are millions of devices sold into the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem – including all set-top boxes from manufacturers that support the A3SA content protection framework such as ZapperBox, Zinwell, ADTH, Shift2Stream, and GT Media, as well as every ATSC 3.0 television being manufactured today – operate with the same capability with factory installed licenses and the vast majority of those devices operate today without ever requiring an Internet connection.”

“As A3SA stated in its February 18, 2026 Reply Comments in this proceeding – and as Weigel’s own presentation acknowledges – more than 18 million devices can access all NextGen TV content, including EAS, whether encrypted or not, without needing an Internet connection or subscription,” the letter concluded. “Blaming ATSC 3.0 content protection for a device-specific implementation failure is akin to blaming a television broadcast station because its HDTV signal cannot be received on an SD-only television. The broadcaster’s signal is working; the standard is working; the missing capability is in the receiver. So too here: the issue is not ATSC 3.0 or the content protection framework, but the design choices made by particular device manufacturers.”

The full letter can be read here.

Weigel’s filing can be found here and the NAB’s comments on this issue are available here.

WASHINGTON—In another sign that broadcasters are using the Federal Communication Commission's recently launched inquiry into sports rights and distribution to advance longstanding regulatory concerns, Gray Media used a recent meeting with the agency’s staff to highlight the importance of digital rights management (DRM) being part of NextGen TV deployments and to argue that the agency needs to change rules on how broadcasters negotiate retransmission agreements with vMVPDs like YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV.

The National Association of Broadcasters has taken a similar response to the FCC’s request for public comments on sports broadcasting practices and market place developments by urging regulators and Congress to abolish ownership caps on station groups.

A letter summarizing a March 5, 2026, meeting between FCC staff and Gray representatives explained that “Gray shares the Commission’s concerns about how difficult it has become for consumers to find their favorite sporting event now that so much is moving to streaming and behind paywalls. During the discussion with Commission staff, Gray described the complex sports rights ecosystem. Gray highlighted the following difficulties: (a) professional sports leagues demand those carrying their games to include digital rights management (`DRM’) into the transmission signal to the extent technically feasible, which is why it is critical that the Commission continue to permit the use of DRM in ATSC 3.0 signals, and (b) network affiliates’ inability to negotiate for carriage of local television signals with virtual multichannel video programming distributors, which significantly handicaps local affiliates' ability to competitively bid for local sports rights because affiliates do not control and cannot appropriately monetize the relationship with a significant distributor of their local signals. Shutting out local affiliates from negotiations for sports rights and distribution not only disenfranchises local affiliates, but it also threatens the revenues used to produce local news, weather, and sports programming that is core to Gray’s mission.”

Station groups have long contended that the current practices of letting the media companies like Disney that own broadcast networks like ABC handle retransmission consent deals with vMVPDs harms them financially by reducing the amount of money that they could get in retrans fees, an argument that the broadcast networks reject.

Including DRM in the NextGen TV standard has been opposed by some consumers while broadcasters have long argued that it puts them at a competitive disadvantage to streaming platforms, who use DRM to encrypt streams, in sports rights negotiations because DRM is not part of the existing ATSC 1.0 standard.

The March 5 meeting at the FCC was attended by Robert Folliard, III, Senior Vice President – Government Relations and Distribution for Gray Media, and I met with Ms. Erin Boone, Chief of the Media Bureau; Evan Morris, Deputy Bureau Chief; and Chad Guo, Attorney Advisor.

The full letter is available here.

WASHINGTON—The NextGen TV transition could be “stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures” without 3.0 tuner mandates, must carry provisions and a sunset date for 1.0 broadcasts, the NAB has told the Federal Communications Commission.

The reply comments by the NAB were made in an ongoing proceeding by the FCC to assess and develop a regulatory framework for the rollout of NextGen TV. That proceeding has produced wide ranging arguments about tuner mandates, must carry provisions, digital rights management and sunset dates for the current ATSC 1.0 broadcasts.

“The record developed here confirms that the Commission’s central task is no longer to debate whether NextGen TV is worth pursuing – stakeholders across the ecosystem recognize that it is – but to decide whether the transition will be allowed to succeed through an orderly, coordinated framework, or instead be stranded indefinitely in a regime of regulatory uncertainty and half-measures, all to the detriment of the viewing public,” the NAB said.

The creation of an “orderly, coordinated framework,” the group added, will require four “core actions” that the FCC needs to adopt if the transition is going to be successful and provide consumers with continued access to free, over-the-air broadcasting.

The four areas are: “(1) establish clear, date-certain sunsets for ATSC 1.0 that provide the focal point necessary for marketplace coordination; (2) modernize the receiver standard so consumers can continue to access broadcast service reliably and consistently as the transition proceeds; (3) ensure continued MVPD carriage of ATSC 3.0 signals and associated advanced features so viewers are not deprived of NextGen TV capabilities through distribution bottlenecks; and (4) protect broadcasters’ ability to deliver high-value programming in a video marketplace where content protection and modern technical capabilities are increasingly prerequisites to obtaining and sustaining premium content.”

The NAB also stressed that “the record also makes plain that the Commission has broad support for taking these steps now. Broadcasters, technology providers, and public-interest stakeholders converge on a simple reality: a voluntary framework has reached the limits of what it can accomplish, and further progress depends on regulatory certainty and coordinated action.”

“Against that record of support, opponents’ submissions are notable for what they do not provide: a workable alternative path to completing the transition,” the NAB added. “Instead, the principal opponents offer a familiar mix of classic delay advocacy: resisting receiver modernization, resisting regulatory certainty, resisting any step that would move the transition from pilot to scale, all while recasting the Further Notice as a forum for collateral disputes and speculative anxieties. In short, these opponents reject any modernization that would impose even minimal effort or adjustment on their part. That is not a serious transition plan. In reality, it is an effort to keep free, over-the-air broadcasting tethered to legacy constraints while other segments of the video marketplace move forward unencumbered and without having to worry about broadcasting as a viable competitor.”

“[T]he Commission should establish a firm sunset for ATSC 1.0, eliminate the regulatory constraints that indefinitely prolong simulcasting and “substantially similar” operation, and modernize the receiver framework so that consumers can continue to access free, over-the-air broadcasting reliably as the transition proceeds,” the NAB concluded. “The Commission should also reject efforts to derail this proceeding with collateral disputes and overstated legal theories that offer no workable alternative transition plan.”

The full filing is available here.

WASHINGTON—The Motion Picture Association has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging the regulator to adopt a NextGen TV standard that includes DRM encryption.

“As NextGen TV modernizes OTA television through digital, internet-protocol (IP) based broadcasting technology, the inclusion of DRM encryption in NextGen TV broadcasts will help programmers safeguard their content from theft,” the Hollywood studio backed group told the FCC in Jan. 20 comments filed as part of the FCC’s proceedings on the NextGen TV transition.

“MPA agrees with the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA) that the incorporation of DRM encryption into NextGen TV signals is critical to ensure their security,” the filing stated. “While DRM encryption is not available under the current broadcast standard, ATSC 1.0, it is regarded as `an essential component of today’s digital landscape,’ and is used by every other major distribution platform across the modern media ecosystem—including cable television and streaming services—to protect content. DRM encryption is a material”

Broadcasters have stated that protecting content against illegal use and piracy is an essential component of the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard because they will have a hard time securing rights for content and high profile sports without it.

The MPA’s members include Amazon Studios, Netflix Studios, Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Universal City Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; and Warner Bros. Entertainment who are among the world’s largest producers of film and TV content.

“The exclusion of DRM encryption in any final ATSC 3.0 standard approved by the Commission would continue to limit broadcasters’ ability to compete, threatening the viability of OTA television,” the MPA also noted. “It could also have a significant negative impact across the media ecosystem…Piracy costs MPA’s members billions of dollars annually in lost revenues, which otherwise could be invested in content production, benefiting viewers, supporting jobs, and boosting the national economy. Currently, content piracy that occurs via OTA broadcasting can hinder our members' ability to earn a return on their investment. Without DRM, pirate operators can extract 4K HDR broadcast feeds and resell them globally within minutes. Sports, premium episodic television, and live events are high-value targets for piracy because they air first in broadcast windows and have immediate viewing demand.”

In comments filed with the FCC Public Knowledge and many individual consumers have opposed the DRM provisions in the ATSC 3.0 standard. Opponents argue that encryption would deny them access to free over-the-air signals and that the market is not ready for a firm cutoff of ATSC 1.0 signals.

“A rushed transition under the terms contemplated by the [FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking] would ignore the public interest, jeopardize universal access to broadcasting, and convert what has long been a public service into a platform serving primarily private commercial interests,” Public Knowledge argued. “Instead, the Commission should take a more cautious approach that places consumer protection and universal access at the center of any transition framework.”

That filing also stressed that “the combination of encryption and the elimination of ATSC 1.0 simulcasting will result in blackouts for viewers using general-purpose or legacy receivers…If the Commission eliminates the simulcasting requirement and permits sudden cutoffs while the encryption regime remains in place, viewers without A3SA-certified devices will simply lose access to stations that encrypt their signals. DRM also threatens viewers’ ability to exercise fair use rights protected under copyright law.”

The MPA rebutted those arguments as follows: “Viewers will remain able to access free OTA programming if the ATSC 3.0 standard includes DRM encryption, and the Commission should reject any claims to the contrary. The A3SA’s ATSC 3.0 Security Standard is designed to preserve consumers’ ability to access broadcast programming for free. For example, all A3SA-compliant devices automatically decrypt content and no action, such as individual authorization, subscription, or payment, is required from consumers. From a viewer’s perspective, watching DRM-encrypted content will be as simple as turning on their television.”

“Moreover, DRM encryption is a legally sustainable tool to protect our members’ copyrighted content from piracy,” the group concluded. “Failure to include DRM encryption in the ATSC 3.0 standard would have dangerous consequences for the broadcasting industry, including increased piracy, decreased competition in the video marketplace, and less free, OTA content options for consumers.”

MPA filing is available here:

The Public Knowledge filing is available here.

Radiant Media Player has partnered with Cloud DRM to enable streaming platforms and media companies that use Radiant Media Player to deliver protected content securely across multiple end-user devices with a single, unified digital rights management workflow.

Radiant Media Player is a widely used HTML5 video and audio player for live, on-demand and DVR content. The media player, used in desktop, mobile and big-screen TV apps, offers a lightweight footprint and supports HLS and MPEG-DASH.

The addition of Cloud DRM to the company’s partner network will enable customers to secure premium content with widely adopted DRM technologies, such as Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft PlayReady, without the need to integrate independently with different DRM vendors, the company said.

Cloud DRM is a serverless architecture based on AWS Cloud. It ensures playback remains seamless, even during viewing peaks.

With a virtually unlimited number of licenses issued every second and a response time of less than 60 milliseconds, Cloud DRM keeps content secure while remaining invisible to Radiant Media Player viewers, the company said.

Detailed integration guidelines are available on the Radiant Media Player and Cloud DRM websites.

Time again for a look into the future as to what we can expect in 2026. Of course, I am not a clairvoyant, and you may agree or disagree with my list. But I hope my predictions—based on my perspective from covering the industry—give you something to think about:

No. 1: U.S. broadcasters muddle through another year of incremental steps towards a 3.0 future. With no date certain for 1.0 shut-off and the freedom to make the switch whenever they think best, the tiptoe towards NextGen TV will continue.

No. 2: The Digital Rights Management (DRM) faceoff between the ATSC 3.0
Security Authority, some viewers and some CE companies over 3.0 content
will be resolved—most likely leaving all sides a bit disappointed but for different reasons.

No. 3: Agentic AI makes its presence felt in the broadcast back office. Workflow efficiency has been the mantra of TV production, news and distribution for decades. With the help of agentic AI, many back-office processes will be more fully automated.

No. 4: 5G Broadcast proponents in the U.S. broadcast industry will continue to make their case but won’t find the success they seek.

No. 5: Re-evaluation of the role public cloud plays in media workflows will continue. Some media organizations will decide to repatriate their valuable content from the public cloud in favor of using a combination of cloud and their own private storage.

No. 6: “Hybrid” will be the word to watch in 2026, whether it refers to media storage, production or distribution.

No. 7: Media Exchange Layer (MXL) will continue to garner industry attention and support for its development, as broadcasters and other media creators look
to one day leverage software-defined media workflows that streamline operations and address interoperability issues.

No. 8: Stations and station groups will begin to get their arms around the best that the “creator economy” has to offer, especially when paired with the content they already create, leading to a variety of benefits for broadcasters—perhaps most importantly, occupying more mindshare among younger members of the public.

No. 9: The funding nightmare public broadcasting is living through will have a bit of a silver lining for the rest of the industry, as displaced technical workers and engineers will create a talent pool commercial broadcasters can tap to help address their engineering aging crisis.

No. 10: The Department of Transportation-funded Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) will demonstrate the strength of the solution as a relatively affordable backup for GPS—especially when it comes to precise timing—and will turn heads among those responsible for national security.

That’s a wrap. Here’s wishing everyone a great 2026!

COCKEYSVILLE, MD.—Sinclair and its subsidiary, ONE Media Technologies, hosted another in a continuing series of ATSC 3.0 device interoperability trials this week.

This time, the testing centered on DRM (digital rights management) and signal signing, dynamic ad insertion, the ATSC 3.0 Physical Layer, dynamic service changes, interactive services, enhanced audio and video services, failover recovery, and performance of a “BEST” (Broadcast-Enabled Streaming Television) channel feature whereby an over-the-air signaled channel is delivered via a broadband connection.

According to Mark Aitken, president of ONE Media Technologies and Sinclair’s senior vice president of advanced technology, the June 3-7 “interop,” or “plugfest” was the seventh such event to be hosted by ONE Media, and the second in-person trialing of NextGenTV technology since 2020.

More than two dozen equipment manufacturers and broadcast groups participated in the trialing, which took place in the ONE Media lab facility at Sinclair’s headquarters located in this Baltimore suburb. More than 100 separate tests were scheduled to be conducted during the four-and-a-half-day event.

Trials involved air chain (encoder, packager, gateway and exciter) technology providers, as well as 3.0 receiver and emergency alerting equipment manufacturers. ONE Media and Sinclair, in addition to providing the facility, also distributed Baltimore area ATSC 3.0 off-air signals to participants’ workstations to create a real-world testing environment.

What's Being Trialed This Time
Along with continued testing of ATSC 3.0’s MMT (MPEG media transport) and DRM (digital rights management) components, this year’s sessions also addressed signal modulation changes, with the latter being especially important as new NextGen TV services such as datacasting, DAI (dynamic ad insertion) and BPS (broadcast positioning service) are rolled out.

As explained by the event’s coordinator, and ONE Media senior systems engineer, Jason Kim, with 3.0, the signal modulation component is not fixed as was the case in earlier DTV implementations and standards.

“With ATSC 3.0 you can make your signal robust, but you’re not going to have as much bandwidth and throughput,” he said. “[Alternatively], you can change things to increase bandwidth to deliver as much data as possible, but the signal is not going to be as robust. There’s a tradeoff.”

“We’re trying to find a sweet spot where we can continue our linear video services and also provide robust mobile data delivery. Since the ATSC 3.0 physical layer modulation is flexible, we can optimize this,” he added.

Kim stated that testing of 3.0 physical layer configurations in preparation for datacasting would be part of the interop schedule.

“This is important, not just for Sinclair, but for others as well,” he said. “We are testing different configurations end-to-end in the delivery chain. Our number one priority is to ensure that there is no service disruption to television viewers. We want to find a modulation ‘sweet spot’ where this is possible.”

Kim observed too that while DRM testing had been part of previous interop events, it figured heavily into this year’s schedule as well.

“We want to make sure that there is interoperability with all of the existing receivers out there,” he said.

Aitken amplified Kim’s remarks.

“You’ve had early issues in connection with DRM that have stuck in the minds of some,” said Aitken, recalling that there had been mixed opinions about the technology developed to ensure that a network’s high-quality content wasn’t accessible by those who would want to use it for monetary gain.

“The battle cry has been that DRM gets in the way,” said Aitken. “At this event, we’re seeing that the different permutations of DRM are working quite well. This is a testimony to everyone involved, and also serves to raise a hand in the crowd and say ‘wait a minute — there’s a lot being said about little to nothing.’ Here’s the proof [a consensus on DRM]. Here’s the industry coming together.”

A Quicker Way of Rolling out NextGen TV
Kim observed that the “failover recovery” element of the interop testing was being performed in connection with a technology that’s being developed to allow broadcasters to very quickly deploy ATSC 3.0 services.

“This is an air chain that’s set up in the cloud,” said Kim. “It’s a totally virtual air chain. ONE Media and Sinclair demonstrated this air-chain-in-the-cloud concept at the NAB Show this year. We’re using the same air chain in our tests this week. This is the first time that a cloud air chain has been used at an interop.”

He elaborated that the “failover” component of the testing was especially important for when cloud-based 3.0 is implemented on a large scale.

“We’re testing failover between cloud and on-premises air chain implementations to see how fast these changes can be made,” said Kim. We need to [establish] the best way to do this so the viewer doesn’t notice. We need to see how receivers react and if this changeover can be done seamlessly.”

Interop Timing
Aitken noted that this year’s interop event had been scheduled to occur close to the June 12-13 ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference and associated meetings.

“We thought that a lot of folks would be in town for either the interop or the ATSC annual conference; maybe for one or the other, and for many, both,” said Aitken. “If it didn’t make sense to come for one thing, it makes sense to come for two things. This event [the interop] is all the more timely because of the push within the FCC to sunset ATSC 1.0.

“I expect that within the next few years we’ll have the ATSC 3.0 national rollout well underway. Washington is sort of a strange place these days, so nobody is taking bets on exactly what’s going to happen and when something’s going to happen, but I can tell you that’s something’s going to happen.”

Advantages of In-Person Testing
While noting that ATSC 3.0-related interops of plugfests had continued virtually during the pandemic, both Aitken and Kim acknowledged that there was no substitute for the in-person testing and evaluation that was taking place at this year’s event.

“At an in-person event, we all see the same thing and work together to troubleshoot any problems,” said Kim. “This happens a lot faster when you’re doing things in person. You get more things done in person. It’s very different from a virtual environment.”

“If you get the right people together at the same time in the same place, and deal with the same issues, many of these issues are easy to resolve,” said Aitken. “We saw that last time, especially in connection with signal signing. One party had it right and three had it wrong. What they had differently was quickly worked out.

“We’ve got encoding, packaging, scheduling, modulation, along with the demodulation and display — the entire chain all in one place,” he observed. “It’s rare that you have in the same room multiple representatives from every piece of the broadcast chain.

The interop event attracted some 55 participants traveling from a variety of countries with a presence or interest in NextGen TV development. Organizations represented included ADTH, Airwavz, Alticast, Anywave, Ateme, DigiCAP, DS Broadcast, DTV Innovations, EiTV, Enensys, Gray Media, Harmonic, Hisense, Heartland Video Systems (HVS), iWedia, Koherence, Maru Eng, News-Press & Gazette (NPG), Pearl TV, Rhode & Schwarz, Samsung, Sinclair/ONE Media, Sony, Synamedia, TCL, Triveni Digital, Velope, and Zixi.

In a move that could help attract more viewers to NextGen TV, Atlanta DTH (ADTH), a provider of NextGen TV external devices, has released Version 2.0 software for the ADTH NextGen TV Box. The update delivers "significantly improved user experience" and introduces support for unconnected-mode DRM playback, “a key advancement for ATSC 3.0 viewing without internet access.” the company said.

ATSC 3.0 (aka "NextGen TV") is the new over the air broadcast standard being deployed by U.S. broadcasters and is designed to eventually replace ATSC 1.0. The standard has also been adopted by Korea, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and parts the standard have also been adopted by Brazil. The standard combines broadcast with IP and promises such premium services as 4K, 5.1 audio, interactivity and personalization.

Although ATSC 3.0 signals are available to about 76% of the nation’s TV households, consumer response has been fairly weak, stymied by complaints from viewers having difficulty accessing and recording programming. Many broadcasters have encrypted 3.0 signals (under the "digital rights management" protocol, aka "DRM") in an effort to protect content against what they perceive as potential piracy threats, as well as using the tactic to potentially unlock such signals to introduce fee-based services in the future. ADTH’s move to add support for DRM could help increase viewer interest, although the vast majority of viewers access 3.0 via TV sets with internal tuners rather than external devices like the ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box.

The ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box is available at Wal-Mart for $90. Another recently released product, the GTMEDIA HDTV Converter X1, also claims to allow the DRM playback as well. That product retails for $130.

The ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box allows ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV and ATSC 1.0 free-to-air television programs to be viewed on any IP-compatible TV display. Housed in a compact unit designed to fit beneath or alongside the display, it comes with ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 support, Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi, HDMI, S/PDIF digital audio, and RCA connectors. A wide range of features are supported including electronic program guide and parental controls. Dolby AC-4, audio description and closed captions can be activated to support viewers with impaired hearing.

ADTH has also launched the new ADTH NextGen TV USB Tuner, now available on Amazon for just under $70. Designed for Android TV and Fire OS smart TVs and streaming devices, this compact plug-and-play tuner brings full ATSC 3.0 support—including internet-connected A3SA DRM—to a wider range of platforms.

“Version 2.0 software adds a series of enhancements including a refreshed user interface, improved playback performance, auto-update capabilities, smarter power management and an onscreen announcements of future updates,” says Ivy Shou, President of Atlanta DTH. “Most notably, the update enables secure playback of A3SA-encrypted ATSC 3.0 channels even when the device is offline, making it ideal for users in areas with limited connectivity.”

Version 2.0 software for the ADTH NextGen TV Box is now available to all current users as a free over-the-air software upgrade. It will also ship pre-installed on all new units as part of an upcoming product refresh.

SIOUX FALL, S.D.—Sencore this week unveiled enhanced descrambling capabilities supporting ATSC 3.0 A3SA digital rights management for its ARD 3000 series of decoders.

The enhancement, part of its newly released version 1.17.0 software, comes as ATSC 3.0 availability grows in the United States with large markets, such as New York City, recently launching NextGen TV.

Use of the new software to support DRM also requires installation of the ARD 3x001 add-on license and adding a USB dongle to ARD 3000 series decoders. Users also will need near full-time internet access for key retrieval to ensure seamless descrambling of encrypted ATSC 3.0 services, the company said.

Available as a single-channel (ARD 3100) and four-channel (ARD 3400) 1RU appliance, the ARD 3000 series is purpose built for decoding ATSC 3.0. The series is well-suited for re-encoding and confidence monitoring applications in existing distribution systems, it said.

The ARD 3000 series includes an ATSC 3.0 RF input for seamless reception of the NextGen TV RF signal. Users can tune to a 3.0 signal and decode up to four services. Support for demodulated ALP IP ATSC 3.0 streams is also integrated into the decoder series, it said.

Decoded services are output via 4x3G-SDI for UHD services or 3G/HD/SD-SDI for HD and SD services. Configuring the appliance is done via an intuitive web GUI or APIs like REST and SNMP, the company said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Digital rights management (DRM) is under the microscope in the ATSC 3.0 world—at least by a contingent of early NextGen TV adopters and pundits who fear broadcasters will use it to lock down their OTA signals, prevent viewers from digitally recording their favorite shows and yank away features like time-shifting that they have enjoyed since VHS and Betamax VCRs burst onto the market in the 1970s.

This concern centers on some early 3.0 gateway boxes that receive a NextGen TV signal and convert it for display on a legacy DTV set—not fresh out of the box NextGen TV sets with built-in 3.0 tuners. 

Perhaps, however, the consternation and hand wringing may ultimately prove to be largely irrelevant. 

On June 20, the FCC adopted its 3.0 Multicast Licensing Report and Order (“In the Matter of Authorizing Permissive Use of the ‘Next Generation’ Broadcast Television Standard”). 

In it, the commission writes: “Accordingly, we adopt a new sunset date of July 17, 2027.  Given the ongoing transition, we believe at this time that this is an appropriate sunset period.” That sunset is the new lights out date for 1.0, subject to an agency review commencing in July 2026. That means viewers can continue to receive and record legacy DTV over the air through mid-July 2017.

Consumers also can take solace in the fact that the FCC has not found “a sufficient shift in the marketplace that would justify elimination or modification of the substantially similar rule.” Presumably, in July 2026 if there hasn’t been “a sufficient shift” in the market, it will continue the requirement to preserve 1.0 service that’s essentially the same as a broadcaster’s primary 3.0 channel.

Now consider this finding from a March NPD Circana Report: “The average TV is replaced every 6.56 years in the U.S., and more than one-quarter of TVs are now at least seven years old.”

Given that the first 3.0 gateways—those without DRM support—came out in 2020, it’s fair to assume that NextGen TVs with built-in DRM support will replace many of the TVs those gateways feed today. Further it’s reasonable to assume 3.0 recorders with DRM support will become available. 

Anne Schelle, Managing Director of Pearl TV, has said as much. “Content security is designed to prevent piracy, not stop home recording,” she said. “No broadcaster has attempted to limit digital video recording capability for its ATSC 3.0 broadcasts, as far as we know. In fact A3SA’s [ATSC 3.0 Security Authority’s] compliance rules for broadcasters expressly prohibit restrictions on home recording for ATSC 1.0 signals that are simulcast now in ATSC 3.0.

“Moreover, expect content security-verified DVRs to be available to consumers by early 2024 and maybe even later this year.”

Bottom line: Now is not the time for consumers to panic, but rather to take a deep breath and let things play out. 

Zapperbox, a supplier of OTA TV DVRs says it hopes to get certified to carry CTA’s NextGen TV logo by NAB New York in mid-October. 

The company began shipping its NEXTGEN TV DVR on Aug. 2 and said that boxes with support for playback and recording of encrypted 3.0 channels will ship in October. The Zapperbox has already received A3SA DRM certification—the security protocol for the ATSC 3.0 standard. All existing units will be upgraded with this capability via a software update. 

Although all TV sets that support NextGen TV on the market are certified to carry the NextGen TV logo—which allows viewers to take advantage of a wider range of advanced features and make it easier to do field upgrades—only one consumer device on the market, ADTH’s NEXTGEN TV box, carries the NEXTGEN TV logo and began shipping earlier this month. 

While ADTH’s device supports the A3SA DRM protocol, the issue of channel encryption has caused one other OTA device maker, Tablo TV to delay the launch of  its ATSC 3.0 Tablo ATSC 3.0 QUAD HDMI DVR for NextGenTV, announced in 2022. 

Zapperbox also plans to add more DVR features in the future such as the ability to record only new shows, backup, search, support for multiple storage devices, etc. 

ATLANTA—ADTH’s NEXTGEN TV Box, the first consumer external device certified with the NEXTGEN TV logo, is now shipping for $119.99. As expected, the box—which Atlanta DTH jointly developed with Tolka— includes support for the A3SA digital rights management protocol, making it the first such certified device on the market. 

All NextGen TV-certified TV sets on the market support the A3SA (ATSC 3.0 Security Authority) protocol, which was established by the major networks and broadcast groups in consultation with the Consumer Technology Association. A3SA uses IP-based encryption protocols, device certificates and rights management technology to protect OTA broadcasts (1.0 is not included in the standard). 

Consumers who want to access NextGen TV without having to shell out for a new TV set have been purchasing external boxes/dongles such as Silicon Dust’s HDHomerun Flex 4K and Bitrouter's Zapperbox, but because they are not yet certified to carry the NextGen TV logo, those boxes don’t currently support 3.0 DRM, leaving many buyers frustrated by encryption imposed by broadcasters, which limit their access and recording options. 

While support for A3SA will allow consumers to access more functionality enabled by NextGen TV, that encryption of broadcast signals also allows broadcasters to limit how and where viewers could access NextGen TV programming, specifically DVR content, a popular feature among streaming services that NextGen TV advocates have been promoting as one of the standard’s more popular features. Some broadcasters have responded to consumer complaints about encryption, saying that they’re trying to avoid another Napster. 

Dave Arland, spokesman for Pearl TV, the TV network-manufacturer consortium for NextGen TV told TechHive recently that remote viewing is “on the A3SA development roadmap,” and that the group is working on developing future capabilities that will satisfy both consumers while protecting broadcast content. He also said that A3SA does not prohibit restrictions on recordings for 1.0 simulcast in 3.0.

“Content protection is designed to prevent piracy, not stop home recording,” Arland said.

NextGen TV is now available in more than 70 markets nationwide from markets as large as Los Angeles and as small as Green Bay Wisc. Ivy Shou, President of Atlanta DTH, characterized the launch of the box as a “landmark moment both for us and for our development partner, Tolka.” 

“The ADTH upgrade accessory receiver is not only fully certified with the NEXTGEN TV logo but also verified for content security, she said. “This assures that consumers will get the best possible experience at home, enjoying the outstanding advantages of NEXTGEN TV channels in 70 markets across the USA.

"The ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box packs a huge amount of processing power and versatility into its compact dimensions and makes UHD TV reception easier than ever. It is also the first set top box to support A3SA digital rights management,” Shou continued. “Our product and software development teams have managed to achieve this at a very affordable price point. We were honored to be recognized by the Pearl TV industry organization and its certification associate, Resillion, as one of the first vendors to produce officially certified NEXTGEN upgrade accessory receivers.”

The ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box allows ATSC 3.0 NextGen TV and ATSC 1.0 free-to-air television programs to be viewed on any IP-compatible TV display. Housed in a compact unit designed to fit beneath or alongside the display, it comes with ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 support, Ethernet, dual-band Wi-Fi, HDMI, S/PDIF digital audio, and RCA connectors. A wide range of features are supported including an electronic program guide and parental controls. Dolby AC-4, audio description and closed captions can be activated to support viewers with impaired hearing.

Orders for the ADTH NEXTGEN TV Box can be placed via ADTH’s website: https://shop.adth.com/collections/all. 

As ATSC 3.0 (aka NextGen TV) rolls out nationwide, critics are pointing to the implementation of digital rights management via encryption of the over-the-air signal as detrimental to the success of the advanced television standard. But advocates are pushing back, noting the importance of protecting both the signal and content.

In a blog posted on NAB’s website this week, Anne Schelle, managing director of Pearl TV, a consortium of broadcasters and manufacturers focused on NextGen TV, says that unlike its predecessors, ATSC 3.0’s IP capabilities allow it to be more resistant to hacking and disruption.

Noting the increasing importance of protecting IP networks, Schelle adds that “until now, broadcast TV has been defenseless against theft, malicious hacks and worse.”

Schelle cites this month’s example of Ukraine’s hacking of a Russian TV stations in which several programs were interrupted with a recording from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense overlaid with audio in Ukrainian, warning viewers that any Ukrainian offensive will not be given advance notice.

The incident is “a sobering reminder that the proverbial sword cuts both ways. Today’s triumphant hackers could become tomorrow’s victims,” Schelle said. “Consequently, this incident underscores the compelling need for robust security protocols with TV broadcasting.”

Schelle adds that broadcasters need the same protections as the wider IP ecosystem, especially since pay-TV providers have enjoyed the same protections for decades. “Nearly every website uses a seamless signing and authentication process to ensure consumers get what they’re expecting and hackers are kept out,” she said. “Now, over-the-air TV broadcasting will finally have enhanced security just like many websites."

Schelle also cites the growing threat of AI.

“This security upgrade for television broadcasters is important since unprotected signals can easily be intercepted, “deep faked” and redistributed without permission. Courts have shut down these illegal schemes but it took years and cost the industry millions. 

“Preventing this problem in advance can be accomplished with the essential security protocols and capabilities inherent in ATSC 3.0,” she added. “Broadcasters must plan to take advantage of these capabilities to protect their signals and their content. These security safeguards will keep hacking and unauthorized redistribution at bay while giving consumers better pictures and enhanced audio.”

June 21: This article was updated. 

HUNT VALLEY, Md.—Mark Aitken, senior vice president of advanced technology at the Sinclair Broadcast Group, flipped the switch on a 100w transmitter to begin broadcasting ATSC 3.0 from atop the station group’s corporate headquarters here with the express purpose of testing reception on small devices like its MarkONE 3.0-enabled smartphone and, in particular, integration of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) in its broadcast app.

The launch comes on the same day Sinclair and German technology research institute Fraunhofer IIS jointly announced they are working together to bring audio services using the DRM standard to ATSC 3.0. (Earlier this year, Sinclair rolled out 3.0 simulcasts of its Seattle radio stations with its DRM-based broadcast app.)

“We are actually building the DRM radio service into the [3.0] broadcast app environment,” says Aitken. “That means those [DRM] services will be carried in band and transported just like HEVC [high efficiency video coding] and [Dolby] AC-4.”

While DRM relies on Fraunhofer’s xHE-ACC codec and the specified audio codec for the U.S. deployment of ATSC 3.0 is Dolby AC-4, the unsupported audio codec can be integrated into the 3.0 ecosystem via Sinclair’s ATSC 3.0 broadcast app, says Aitken.

“Even television sets through the [ATSC] A/344 interactive environment will be able to grab that app, consume the [DRM] player and bring that [xHE-AAC-based] player into the operational environment of the TV set,” says Aitken.

However, Aiken emphasizes that Sinclair’s NextGen TV programming will use the Dolby AC-4 codec. Only its audio services, such as the STIRR Radio simulcasts in Seattle, will leverage xHE-AAC coding through the DRM player in its broadcast app.

The strategy behind bringing DRM to the ATSC 3.0 ecosystem is multifaceted, says Aitken. 

Uniting DRM with ATSC 3.0 offers benefits internationally. For instance, in India some 200 languages and dialects are spoken and the most prevalent means of receiving content is the mobile phone. Bringing 3.0 and DRM into harmony could offer broadcasters a way to build out a single broadcast infrastructure to deliver both TV and radio stations while offering a bandwidth-efficient way to reach radio listeners regionally in their own tongue, says Aiken.    

“Bringing the rich digital radio experience of DRM to the innovative ATSC TV platform is a perfect win-win situation for users and broadcasters alike,” says Alexander Zink, senior business development manager for Broadcast Applications at Fraunhofer.

Sinclair, too, plans to leverage the bandwidth efficiency of xHE-AAC in the U.S. to deliver stereo audio services at as little as 26kb/s per channel over the air via its 3.0 broadcast app. It also is looking at how other DRM-based services might serve the public, such as Fraunhofer’s Journaline interactive information service. 

One of the primary goals of the 3.0 rollout in Hunt Valley, operating under a special temporary authority (STA) license from the FCC, will focus on the use of these DRM services and other broadcast app features on small receivers, says Aitken.

Further, Aitken is hopeful that combining 3.0 and DRM in mobile devices, such as Sinclair’s Mark One smartphone, will advance the station group’s effort to get 3.0 receivers into vehicles as an affordable alternative to delivering data to cars and trucks via LTE wireless service, he says.

“Being able to demonstrate these services to the automotive world [with a Mark One-type mobile phone in a vehicle] allows them to begin to think about ATSC 3.0 for data delivery,” says Aitken. “By the end of the year, there will be upwards of 70% or more of the U.S. public served [with 3.0] by at least one broadcast facility, and the aspiration of companies like BitPath is to have multiple channels with bandwidth available over the next two to three years.”

PORTLAND, ORE.—Amazon Web Services has launched SPEKE (Secure Packager and Encoder Key Exchange), an open, extensible API specification developed to streamline integration of Digital Rights Management (DRM) with encoders, transcoders, and origin servers (encryptors).

Most integrations usually require a custom API for each DRM solutions provider and each encryptor, which can be costly and time consuming, and even delay the launch of new services. SPEKE provides a standardized method for key exchange between encryptors and DRM systems. It also enables customers to use SPEKE-enabled key servers or encryptors in on-premises, cloud, or hybrid infrastructures. SPEKE is designed for both live and on-demand media workflows.

Built on the DASH Industry Forum’s Content Protection Information Exchange Format (CPIX) standard for key exchange, AWS says SPEKE provides a universal, secure way for SPEKE-enabled key servers and encryptors to encrypt content. An API specification supports HLS, MSS and DASH packaging as well as standard DRM platforms, including Apple FairPlay Streaming, Microsoft PlayReady, Google Widevine, AES-128, and proprietary DRMs.

Multiple APN partners already have implemented SPEKE, including AWS, Axinom, castLabs, EZDRM, INKA Entworks, Insys Video Technologies, Intertrust Technologies, Irdeto, Kaltura, NAGRA, NEXTSCAPE, Verimatrix, Viaccess-Orca, VUALTO, and WebStream.

"SPEKE is an exciting development for our industry. Building on the CPIX API, it further improves operational efficiencies and reduces both the time and costs involved in launching OTT services,” said Will Law, founding board member and Vice-Chairman, DASH Industry Forum.

”Prior to SPEKE, integration required a custom API tailored to each DRM solutions provider and each individual encoder, transcoder, and packager,” said Michael Callahan, Head of Media Solutions Marketing at AWS Elemental. ”This often resulted in delayed new service launches for customers. SPEKE simplifies DRM integration to a single secure API. Any SPEKE-enabled DRM key server works with any SPEKE-enabled encryptor out of the box without the need for proprietary integration.”

Samsung, LG and Sony – the biggest TV manufacturers – have recently joined Fox, NBC and Telemundo Owned Stations Group and a growing list of leading broadcasters in voicing their commitment to ATSC 3.0, which powers Next Gen TV.

With ATSC 3.0’s large-scale introduction now looking assured for 2020, broadcasters will be able to introduce a variety of cool, new internet-enabled business and consumer features with the standard’s advanced transmission technologies.

These features will let broadcasters offer more channels along with better picture and sound quality, while improving broadcast reception for both TV and mobile viewers. In short, broadcasters will have the opportunity to redefine themselves by offering lots of new viewing experiences including those comparable to OTT subscription and ad-supported internet providers.

And why not? People love OTT services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu for their phenomenal original content and, at an even more basic level, how they make TV fun with appealing user interfaces and tailored content recommendations. For broadcasters and content providers looking to compete in this dynamic new world, creating seamless viewer experiences between broadcast channels and their growing subscription OTT services could help close the gap.

Yet these promising new premium content profit centers will be doomed, even before they begin, if broadcasters miss the opportunity to incorporate necessary technological safeguards and defend themselves against competing pirate services bent on destroying what could become a boon for the industry.

The Next Gen TV standard has the usual assortment of Digital Rights Management (DRM) tools, but neither DRM nor the standard, itself, include anti-piracy measures. Ultimately, the revenue from this new market will depend on broadcasters’ willingness to target pirate streaming services by protecting their high-value content and services against theft. Without the additional layer of anti-piracy protection, these new broadcast services will suffer the same fate as the music industry.

The movie studios sought to prevent what happened to their music brethren by encrypting DVDs with DRM at the outset of that industry, letting DVD player manufacturers know they would be excluded from this profitable new market if they failed to agree to their content protection rules.

What they did not see coming, however, was the loss of billions of dollars with the emergence of DRM-only DVD as a format for piracy growth. Pirates embraced the convenient discs over the original VHS format, because they could be perfectly replicated and easily transported all over the world.

Not for long, though. Realizing the financial hit they were taking, and that DRM alone was not enough to protect their DVD business, content providers required manufacturers to install playback control watermarking for their Next Gen Blu-ray format, effectively shutting down the pirated optical disc market. (Full Disclosure: I represent Verance, the company behind the Cinavia anti-piracy technology utilized by major movie studios, as well as Aspect, a foundational element of the Next Gen TV standard.)

Today’s broadcasters and content providers should follow the same lead as movie studios when it comes to content protection in the era of Next Gen TV, but first they will have to overcome manufacturers’ resistance to Next Gen TV anti-piracy measures.

I believe this can be done. The consumer electronics industry operates on the theory of “perceived obsolescence,’” which means that to stay in business it must convince consumers of the constant need to upgrade. So even though your iPhone or Galaxy may work perfectly well, the perception is you need to get the next shiny new phone.

As multiple recent consumer surveys have made clear, when it comes to selling the next generation of TVs starting in 2020, Next Gen TV is the motivator. Potential customers say they are drawn to a variety of its new personalized audio and video features including access to multiple languages, hometown announcers for national broadcast games and selecting multiple camera angles, as well as interactive capabilities such as catch-up TV and start over.

Without the support of broadcasters or streaming services, the adoption of Next Gen TVs will be challenging at best and TV sales will lag. New business models that make broadcast competitive with SVOD and OTT will be at risk. Now is the time for the content side of the business to encourage TV manufacturers to promote legitimate broadcast services.

Bill Gates knows this. In his now-famous 1996 essay, Content is King, the Microsoft founder looked at long-term winners in the television revolution and predicted the next big upheaval would come with internet-delivered content. More broadly, Gates knew that new distribution channels and supporting hardware cannot exist without compelling content.

For Next Gen TV and its new revenue-generating broadcast OTT services to thrive, broadcasters and studios must start thinking like Gates and realize Kodi and other black boxes for what they are – direct competitors offering reliable, high-quality offerings at prices far lower than legitimate OTT services. A report released by Sandvine indicated 6.5% of U.S. households are stealing live TV service at a cost to service providers of $4 billion in annual revenue.

Next Gen TV empowers content providers and broadcasters like never before, handing them the cards to stay competitive. In order for that to happen, however, they must remember what the studios learned in their earlier successful quest to end DVD/Blu-ray disc piracy: content is king, and these assets must be protected with more than DRM.

Mitch Singer, formerly Chief Digital Strategy Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is an industry media and technology consultant.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.

LOS ANGELES--A group of streaming services and studios are taking legal aim at Setvnow, a subscription video service based in Florida that, they claim, is selling a package of TV channels, movies and other content illegally.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court Central District of California, Western Division, comes way of a group that includes, Amazon, Netflix, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios, Universal and Warner Bros., over allegations that Setvnow is pirating content and “inducing mass infringement” of copyrighted material by packaging it into a service that could look legitimate to the untrained eye.

The service being targeted, called Set TV, is offering a lineup of more than 500 channels that starts at $20 per month (for up to three devices per account) via an app for Android TV boxes, Android phones, Amazon Fire TV devices and browsers. Set TV has also set up a way to deliver service using Kodi add-ons.

Set TV’s basic package of hundreds of channels includes BBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC, CBS, HBO, Nickelodeon, A&E, Bravo, MTV, NBA TV, ESPN, among many others. In addition to selling the basic package on a month to month basis, Set TV is also selling discounted three-month, six-month and 12-month subscriptions.

[Read: OTT Revenues ‘To Reach $120 Billion By 2020’]

Set TV, which also sells a pre-loaded, internet-connected TV device for $89 that runs its service (called the SP-110), notes on its web site that it’s selling the service worldwide to anyone with an internet connection. In addition to selling the service directly, Set TV has also set up a reseller and affiliate program.

However, the plaintiffs claim that Setvnow is obtaining content and distributing it illegally.

“For the customers who use Setvnow, the service provides hallmarks of using authorized streaming services—a user-friendly interface and reliable access to popular content—but with a notable exception: the customers only pay money to Defendants, not to Plaintiffs and other content creators upon whose copyrighted works Defendants’ business depends,” the suit contends.

Setvnow has been asked for comment.

The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global coalition that identifies and coordinates strategies against alleged content pirates on behalf of partners that include the SVOD services and studios, said it filed the suit against the service and two individuals, Jason Labossiere, said to be the site operator and domain registrant of www.setvnow.com, and Nelson Johnson, a partner in Set Broadcast LLC.

ACE has also gone after other services it believes to be accessing and distributing content illegally, including TickBox (a preliminary injunction was handed down in mid-February) and Dragon Box that, ACE claims, used software tools to “scour the internet” for sources of infringing content and assembling them into illegal, paid video services.

ACE and its backers have been on the legal offensive amid a growing threat from a new class of video pirates that have become increasingly sophisticated via the use of fancy interfaces along with customer service infrastructures that help these illegal services appear legitimate to consumers.

“The technology makes the presentation of these pirate sites look pretty slick and, maybe to the untrained eye, seem halfway legitimate,” James Assey, executive vice president at the NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, said in an interview for a Multichannel News feature story on the topic.

“This is a whole new source of content,” noted Jan van Voorn, executive vice president and chief of global content protection at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). “Just going after the box sellers is not going to impact this whole range of players in this field.”

“It can be used anywhere in the world that has reasonable broadband penetration and speed,” Mark Mulready, vice president of cybersecurity services at Irdeto, said. “It’s a significant and growing threat.” 

OTTAWA—A year ago, the CBS TV network announced that it was producing the all-new “Star Trek: Discovery” (aka, in Star Trek parlance, “DIS”) series to anchor its pay-per-view “CBS All Access” streaming media website. “The new program will be the first original series developed specifically for U.S. audiences for CBS All Access,” CBS said at the time.

The fact that the network is producing a broadcast-quality TV series for online pay-per-distribution speaks to how seriously CBS sees streaming as an important future money-maker for broadcasters. At the same time, taking the plunge into streaming as a revenue source puts the network in the crosshairs of pirates who want to steal its content for free. This is why CBS, Netflix and all other online providers who charge for their content are relying more than ever on DRM (Digital Right Management) to protect their revenue streams.

‘TO BOLDLY GO’
In the world of catch-up TV and online on-demand services, unrestricted redistribution of content matters significantly. Online services need to limit all forms of piracy for two reasons—to protect their bottom line and to honor commitments made when licensing copyrighted content for online distribution. If subscribers can view this content without paying, content producers such as CBS make less money. Too much piracy, and they might not sell enough views to recoup their costs; let alone make a profit.

Hence, by deciding to take DIS to CBS All Access, the network has truly decided “to boldly go” where no U.S. broadcaster has gone before. That is why the network will need the very best DRM protection money can buy.

Steve Christian, senior vice president of marketing for Verimatrix Simply put, DRM is the arsenal of tools online (and cable/satellite TV) content distributors use to protect their moneymaking content. The DRM arsenal encompasses everything from conditional access password protection and public/private key encryption (where the paying customer purchases the private key to unlock the public key’s encryption of the content) to “digital watermarking” where the content’s origination point data is hidden within the feed; and open to deciphering by DRM analysts examining pirated content.

“Because DRM is designed to protect content producers and service providers from digital theft, it falls under what we refer to as ‘revenue security’,” said Steve Christian, senior vice president of marketing for Verimatrix, a San Diego-based developer of revenue security systems such as Video Content Authority System (VCAS) Ultra, which protects 4K/UHD pay streams in compliance with MovieLabs’ standards. “The key is to stay one step ahead of pirates by using a mix of software, hardware and digital watermarking tools, such as those built into VCAS Ultra to deter piracy attempts and to quickly identify and shut down those that are successful.”

WHAC-A-MOLE
The problem for online content providers is that DRM is just their side of a never-ending dance with piracy; one in which the “bad guys” are always finding new ways to game the system as existing loopholes are closed.

“Anti-piracy is a continuous arms race,” said Avni Rambhia, Digital Transformation Industry Principal with the growth consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. “As content distribution becomes more unmanaged and on-demand viewing grows, there are so many more ways for hackers to steal content and divert revenue. Consequently, service providers are constantly having to refresh, expand and adapt their DRM solutions to protect their content and revenue streams.”

Unfortunately, hacking is just one of many ways that content producers can have their content stolen. Password-sharing, where one person buys an online subscription and then shares their password around with numerous non-paying friends and family, is another.

A third, faster growing issue is the theft of online service credentials and their sale on the black market, allowing en masse piracy without collusion from the subscriber. (In July 2016, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that password-sharing passwords is a federal crime under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.)

Avni Rambhia, Digital Transformation Industry Principal, Frost & Sullivan There are many other ways for pirates to siphon off premium content, including analog recapture via camcorders, use of stream recorders to capture playback streams, or directly hacking secure clients. “Forensics and traitor tracing play important roles in their own right, as they allow sources of leaked content to be identified and shut down—often in real time,” Rambhia said. “At the same time, new forms of revenue theft are arising, such as embedding of legitimate streams in counterfeit web pages to divert advertising revenue to the pirate.”

Additional sources of risk to content include intentional theft or inadvertent error by content provider employees, and the relentless pressure of organized piracy outfits whose products include hardware set-top boxes with fully developed user interfaces and massive content libraries. Hackers continue to be motivated by profit, bragging rights, or both, and content providers have their hands full making sure that their shows still earn enough revenue to justify the investment.

In deploying their DRM arsenal to fight these and other threats, “service providers have to walk the fine line between maintaining subscriber satisfaction while also controlling revenues” said Rambhia. “DRM tools can allow service providers to track shared passwords and potentially monetize this through tiered subscriptions that allow a higher number of concurrent streams, or alternatively notify the user that sharing has been detected and offer options for remediation.”

VENDORS PLAY IT SMART
The ever-evolving nature of piracy threats is why DRM software is constantly changing, and why Elemental Technologies and Imagine Communications both take a “black box” approach to incorporating third-party DRM into their playout systems.

“We are agnostic in supporting DRM software in our systems, because new providers are constantly coming to market with newer and better solutions,” said Lionel Bringuier, director of product management for Elemental Technologies in Portland, Ore. “You just never know what new threats are going to emerge and what new DRM solutions will arise to combat them,” added Yuval Fisher, MVPD CTO for Imagine Communications in Dallas. “This is why our playout packages are capable of adding these DRM solutions as they arise.”

Time will tell if CBS All Access will fend off the pirates successfully enough to fairly reap the benefits of “Star Trek: Discovery.” In the real world of online piracy, this threat is far worse than anything the Klingons could pose to Star Trek’s rights holder.