TELCOTV TRADESHOW, SAN DIEGO, Nov. 8, 2005 — SkyStream, a leader in IP video delivery, and SecureMedia, a leading provider of conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) software solutions, announced here today that they will give visitors to TelcoTV the world’s first live demonstration of PUSH VOD with integrated digital rights management in SkyStream’s booth, No. 910.
PUSH VOD is a highly efficient alternative to traditional network VOD because it eliminates bandwidth bottlenecks by pushing movies to set-top boxes with hard disks outside of peak traffic times. Parks Associates forecasts that VOD will be available in 111 million U.S. homes in 2010, with an estimated 19.3 million subscribers to paid content VOD, which makes VOD an important potential source of revenue for telcos on top of basic multi-channel TV.
“Telcos want to offer video-on-demand to be on par with cable operators, and given their bandwidth constraints, a PUSH VOD approach should be very attractive to them,” said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst for In-Stat. “Content is a key component of any VOD service and content protection is a key issue for the studios and content providers. Integrating digital rights management into a PUSH VOD solution is a critical element that will pave the way to increased adoption of PUSH VOD among telcos.”
“Today’s TV viewers want choice, convenience, quality and features like HDTV. The extraordinary popularity of PVRs indicates strong demand for convenient, time-shifted content, and PUSH VOD allows telcos to deliver a complete video-on-demand service and HDTV programming to subscriber PVRs over their networks today, at very low cost and utilizing existing network bandwidth,” said Scott Dougall, director of content delivery software for SkyStream.
The demo at TelcoTV is based on SkyStream’s zBand content delivery platform pushing licensed Hollywood movies to a personal video recorder (PVR) with content protection and secure playout options managed by SecureMedia’s Encryptonite System. The demonstration will feature a PVR loaded with a live and encrypted Movies-on-Demand “service” that visitors to the booth can use to preview movie trailers of current offerings and order movies for viewing.
“Our technology gives service providers and content owners the confidence that their PUSH VOD content is safe from piracy,” said Whit Jackson, vice president of business development for SecureMedia. “By maintaining continuous encryption of the movies at the transport stream and asset level, especially while they are stored on the PVR or moved to portable devices, service providers can ensure they will get paid for each viewing of their PUSH VOD content and not have to worry about theft. Our highly efficient, low-overhead solution integrates perfectly with SkyStream’s zBand platform providing a secure, integrated VOD solution of choice for telcos.”
Today, video-on-demand is predominantly offered by cable operators using network-based video storage that delivers a separate video stream to each subscriber requesting content, a process that consumes substantial network bandwidth. Cable operators typically provision their networks for about 8 percent concurrent VOD usage. This bandwidth-intensive approach can result in denial of service messages to users, such as when a popular new release movie is made available on a Friday night.
PUSH VOD is a highly efficient alternative to the traditional bandwidth-intensive VOD delivery approach, because a PUSH system pre-positions the most requested content onto users’ PVRs during off-peak hours to avoid network congestion. Depending on the size of the hard drive, service providers can make about 100 movie titles available at any one time on the subscribers’ PVRs for instant viewing, in pristine DVD quality. The zBand PUSH system also automatically refreshes content based on subscriber personal preferences and service provider business rules, ensuring that subscribers always have a compelling library of content available for immediate viewing. PUSH VOD allows telcos to start earning revenue from the VOD rental market immediately, with minimal headend investment and without waiting for network upgrades.
“Telcos must select a DRM system for their PUSH VOD platform that has been approved by Hollywood’s leading content owners, like SecureMedia’s Encryptonite System,” Mr. Dougall added. “A PUSH VOD system integrated with a robust, very low overhead DRM makes it much easier for telcos to obtain licensed content and start offering value-added services on top of basic multi-channel TV. PUSH VOD offers telcos a growth revenue service that differentiates their offering from traditional VOD and allows subscribers a great deal of choice today.”
PUSH VOD with zBand and integrated Encryptonite DRM is available today. To schedule a demonstration, please contact SkyStream directly at info@skystream.com or +1 (408) 616-3300.
Receive a New White Paper from SkyStream and SecureMedia
To receive our new white paper, “Leveraging the PVR Boom with PUSH VOD: A New Way to Offer DRM-Protected On Demand Services that Improve Subscriber Satisfaction and Add New Revenues,” please stop by SkyStream or SecureMedia’s booth or contact either company for an electronic copy.
About zBand 5.0 Home Entertainment Edition:
The zBand Home Entertainment Edition is a client/server based software solution that offers service providers a proven system to launch Video-on-Demand or Movie-on-Demand services over any multicast network. zBand is an open platform that is integrated with industry-leading software and hardware devices, including content security and DRM systems, leading PVR manufacturers and middleware providers. zBand has more than 30 field-proven deployments worldwide. For more information on zBand, please contact SkyStream at info@skystream.com.
About SkyStream
SkyStream provides IP video delivery platforms that enable service providers to transform their business by offering IPTV and MPEG-4 video services. SkyStream’s products–which include zBand content delivery software, Mediaplex-20 and iPlex switched digital video headends and the Source Media Router series of IP encapsulation solutions–lower OPEX and CAPEX costs by 40 percent to 50 percent and optimize video delivery over any last mile network. SkyStream is the fastest-growing provider of IP video solutions with more than 300 customers. SkyStream’s Web site can be found on the Internet at www.skystream.com.
About Encryptonite System
SecureMedia’s Encryptonite System is an open platform CA/DRM software solution optimized for the secure distribution of VOD, broadcast pay TV and other multimedia content over IP networks. The Encryptonite System operates on a variety of operating system and hardware platforms and offers service providers the lowest cost of operation as the system requires minimal incremental bandwidth and features an ultra-light, processor-efficient client that can be deployed on virtually any set top box, PVR, mobile handset, or portable device.
About SecureMedia
SecureMedia, www.securemedia.com, is a leading provider of open platform, media agnostic conditional access and digital rights management solutions for the delivery of video-on-demand, broadcast pay TV and other digital content over broadband IP networks. The Company provides a range of content security solutions from the comprehensive Encryptonite System CA/DRM solution for IPTV services to software toolkits, hardware cores and plug-in for third party media delivery systems. SecureMedia’s customers represent industry leaders and include Sony, NTT, BB Cable Corp., Cavalier Telephone, China Data Broadcasting and RealNetworks. SecureMedia is a privately held corporation with offices in Boston, San Francisco and Auckland, New Zealand and representatives in Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul.
Contact:
For SkyStream
Megan O’Reilly-Lewis
SkyStream
Phone: +1 408-616-3394
Email: moreilly@skystream.com
Jonathan Bass
A&R Partners for SkyStream
Phone: +1 650-762-2822
Email: jbass@arpartners.com
For SecureMedia
Media Contacts:
Michael Krems
Krems Public Relations
(650) 759-7133
krems@kremspr.com
