Six advantages of direct-to-TV broadcast content protection technology

The most common content protection technology was associated with set-top boxes (STBs) that decrypted cable and satellite broadcasts for those who had paid their subscription. These are known as conditional access systems (CAS). Although these legacy technologies are gradually becoming outdated and will eventually need to be replaced, they’re still forming a considerable part of the content protection technology stack of traditional pay-TV operators, and maintaining backwards compatibility is important.

As the market transitions to a widely diversified distribution model, flexibility is key. Fortunately, hybrid strategies that embrace both traditional broadcast models and streaming services can allow for greater security, flexibility in vendor management, and faster time to market.

If operators also take advantage of cloud-based content protection services with pay-as-you-go models, the goal to lower the TCO, by reducing both CAPEX and OPEX costs, becomes attainable.

Any converged broadcast-OTT security deployment needs to be easily integrated alongside the broadcaster’s current subscriber management and content management systems, through a well-defined API.