Motorola Signs Reseller Deal With Widevine
Will Sell Conditional Access, Digital Right Management Products Globally
By Todd Spangler — Multichannel News, 4/30/2008 10:42:00 AM
Motorola’s Home and Networks Mobility Division has signed a global reseller agreement with Widevine Technologies that will let Motorola sell, service and support Widevine’s downloadable conditional access and digital rights management products globally.

Currently, Motorola and Widevine jointly support over fifty video service providers worldwide. The joint solution includes Motorola’s consumer devices, compression and infrastructure solutions for video delivery and Widevine’s Cypher conditional access technology, which enables telco, cable or other service providers to use a single content security solution for protecting content delivered to set-top boxes, DVRs and PCs.

Privately held Widevine is backed by Cisco Systems, Charter Ventures, Constellation Ventures, Dai Nippon Printing Co., PaceSetter Capital Group, Phoenix Partners, Telus and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

How is it workable? what problem has been solved?

If you still need a Motorola STB how has that enabled other CE devices to be attached to the operators network and function?

Over the last two and a half decades, the traditional Analog delivery and consumption of entertainment content has transitioned to the digital world.

In the 80’s and 90’s, the solutions for protecting entertainment copyrights focused primarily on a strong relationship between the entire value chain and the subscriber. This emphasis occurred because both the delivery methods and the consuming devices were generally limited to a relatively small and finite number. Content protection first emerged in the form of Conditional Access Systems, which evolved in the 90’s as the value chain model began to dissolve in the face of competition from file based distribution of entertainment content, e.g., DVDs and VOD. At that time, the major CAS/DRM companies included such as: Intertrust, NDS, Nagra, Motorola, Scientific Atlanta, Microsoft, & Content Guard. Their delivery mechanisms were dominated by the cable and satellite distribution models. Also, many of these early CAS/DRM systems locked users to particular networks and consumer electronic devices.

In the late 90’s and early 00’s the delivery and consumption of entertainment content began to change. The internet became a delivery mechanism and wireless networks improved. Additionally, the number of consumer electronic devices targeted at enabling the consumption of entertainment content exploded exponentially. Also, concepts like the connected home and mobility became the buzz. Users began demanding choice and flexibility in how they receive and consume entertainment content. Furthermore, regulatory bodies like the FCC mandated that copyright protection technologies be separable from the terminal device. The FCC goal was retail availability of consumer electronic devices that could connect to service provider networks to consume entertainment content.

In 2006, “You” were named the Times Magazine person of the year as video production became democratized

At least because of the above influencing factors, during 2007 entertainment content technologies and technologies that protect the copyrights of entertainment content will become user/device and content centric.

This is where DM needs to focus if Motorola wants to address the Connected Home.

Note: Widevine and Motorola have an partnership begining in 2004 that enables Motorola customers to use Widevine’s content protection solutions in their networks giving them seperable security today.

Red Herring recently named Widevine the Switzerland of DRM…This is really what the FCC, Consumers and the CEA had in mind.

It is also Multi-platform and Multi Format…It is the Ultimate in consumer centric CAS/DRM.

http://www.widevine.com/ip_separable_security.html