No content protection, no deal. That’s basically what movie studios and TV houses have been telling telcos anxious to distribute their programming over high-speed networks to the anxious consumer masses.
Such was the case with Canadian telco SaskTel, which sought to address the growing concerns of content owners and provide HD content and VoD services in a highly-competitive market.
“To acquire the highest quality and earliest release windows for our
HDTV service, SaskTel had to demonstrate we had the content security to
persistently encrypt SD and HD content throughout the entire video
distribution chain,” said SaskTel President and CEO Robert Watson. “We were concerned about pent up customer demand for HDTV.”
SaskTel teamed with content security and watermarking firm Widevine Technologies Inc., a firm networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. has already invested in and MTS Allstream Inc. also chose as an IPTV deployment partner.
Not long after, SaskTel said it signed multi-year distribution deals with such Hollywood studios as Warner Bros. International, Paramount, NBC Universal, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures.
Now, their cumulative content makes up SaskTel Max, a 27-channel HDTV and VoD package, which it claims is among the largest such HD deployments to date. SaskTel plans to add a personal video recorder (PVR) service sometime next year, added Watson.
The service offers several entertainment theme packages, plus sports, news and movies from the above-listed Hollywood studios and others. SaskTel said Widevine wares position it to deliver content to PC and mobile devices. No timeframes were given for either opportunity.
Watson said SaskTel’s customers can now get MAX in up to four rooms of their houses. According to projections from researcher In-Stat, HDTV subscribers are projected to reach 40 million by 2008.
The Delivery Network
SaskTel’s service delivery is based on an integration with Alcatel’s
iMagic middleware platform, Motorola's VIP 1200 HD/H.264 set top box
and Kasenna’s MediaBase media streaming and distribution platform. SaskTel added that its IPTV ecosystem also features a head end from Tandberg Television and residential gateways from 2Wire Inc.
SaskTel will additionally invest more than $310 million over the next five years to bring fiber optic cable closer to the home, as part of its Next Generation Access Infrastructure initiative, to increase availability of HDTV and related services.
Extra Attention
Widevine, whose products enable telcos, cable, satellite, Internet and mobile service operators to generate new revenue opportunities through the secure distribution, identification and tracking of digital content, has attracted much interest already this year.
In April, Widevine announced that Cisco Systems Inc., and the investment arm of Canadian telco Telus spearheaded a funding infusion of roughly $17 million. Just weeks later, the vendor announced a deal with Canadian telco MTS Allstream whereby it will help the operator acquire and provide VoD matter to customers.
The Product/Technology
Utilizing a combination of downloadable conditional access and digital rights management techniques, Widevine Cypher Suite enables operators to acquire and license premium studio content and, through patented technologies, reduce capital and operational expenditures.
Widevine claims Cypher persistently encrypts both digital broadcast and VoD content, regardless of video infrastructure, network protocols or compression technologies. Widevine invented the downloadable Cypher Virtual SmartCard client, which protects IP video set-top boxes, consumer electronics devices and PCs.
SaskTel www.sasktel.com
Widevine Technologies Inc. www.widevine.com
