Three top companies – NDS, Thomson, and STMicroelectronics – have announced the joint development of new encryption technology aimed at foiling video piracy, now estimated to cause about a $3.5 billion migraine for broadcasters and film and television studios.
Known as the Secure Video Processor (SVP) platform, the new technology will be aimed at media companies looking to guard their content from unauthorized copying and redistribution, the three companies said at a September 10 announcement, observing that the "exploding popularity" of digital video players has been equaled by a rise in piracy.
"We are delighted to be a founding member of the SVP Alliance", said STMicroelectronics home entertainment group general manager Christos Lagomichos. "By including SVP functionality in new devices, semiconductor manufacturers will provide the makers of consumer electronics equipment with a cost effective platform on which to develop innovative and secure products."
NDS has developed the SVP antipiracy software component, with Thomson expected to embed SVP-enabled chips developed by STMicroelectronics into Thomson video playback devices and set-top boxes, with America's DirecTV satellite television service becoming the first to use the SVP technology.
"Digital technology has turned the vision of moving high quality content between consumer devices into a reality," said NDS chief executive Abe Peled at the announcement. "Consumers are willing to pay for quality content as long as they can access it easily when and where they want.
"In addition, rights holders are eager to take advantage of the new business opportunities digital technology creates while ensuring that premium content offered for wider and more flexible distribution will be protected from unauthorized copying and redistribution," Peled continued. "SVP readily and economically extends the ability of the content distributor to more widely distribute high value content for consumers to enjoy while protecting content rights."
Thomson senior vice president and chief technology officer Jean-Charles Hourcade said the partnership between the three companies is promiting a standard for secure digital content distribution over home networks and portable devices alike, and will let network operators expand their ranges of devices and services to offer their subscribers.
"For the first time, operators will be offered a comprehensive end-to-end solution that optimizes control and increases revenue, while consumers can seamlessly access digital content at a fair price and transfer it from a public domain to their preferred device at home," Hourcade said. "Furthermore, by promoting the development of interoperability with other solutions, such as SmartRight, the SVP Alliance will help create a coalition of multiple manufacturers that can deploy devices industry-wide."
