The major motion picture studios' apprehensions concerning the secure delivery of video-on-demand (VOD) over the Internet is arguably the greatest barrier to the maturation of the Internet VOD market. Content providers such as MeTV.com must prove to the studios that we are able to secure their digitally formatted content from royalty free distribution, unlicensed viewing and digital capture and reproduction. Content asset security is one of the highest priorities of this new Internet entertainment industry.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the most controversial topic and largest area of concern. It is a common sentiment that should content be unveiled to the public prior to its traditional distribution channel release, a significant down turn in opening day box office or other established distribution channel revenues would be realized (video rentals, existing PPV, etc.).

The studios require a 99.9% guarantee on digital rights management and copyright protection technology prior to significant entry into the Internet VOD market. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted into law in October 1998, was the first step by the Federal government to protect copyright industries over the Internet. Recently, however, it has come under fire by privacy advocacy groups for not allowing its surveillance features to be shut off. MeTV will support the DMCA, as well as work with industry leaders in delivering secure protection solutions to safeguard content. Indeed, Intel, Hitachi, Matsushita Electrical, Sony, and Toshiba recently proposed a technical framework designed to protect digital audio and video content from being illegally copied and distributed. MeTV plans to adopt this framework to deliver our security solution.

A close second to DRM is Territorial Rights Management (TRM). TRM is the ability to contain content viewing within a specific region or country as bound by the contents licensing regulations. The concept of a movie being distributed to the public in an area outside of its licensed geography lends itself to the above sentiment; losing the monitorial edge of a box office or rental market release. Because of the nature of the Internet this is an interesting, though not unconquerable, challenge.

There is no single solution to TRM. Instead, it is a multi-layered and multi-faceted solution that MeTV has chosen to employ. Combining MeTV.com's rules based application architecture, content distribution methodology, and in co-ordination with our VSPs' (Video Service Provider) routing utilities, we will employ a robust TRM solution that will meet the needs of the studio's.

The studios will make a decision to enter the VOD market only after they fully understand the security technology available. They do not want to jeopardize their pay-per-view model, or lose revenue to a foreign theatrical release from a pirated copy distributed over the Internet. The music industry was forced to be reactionary to MP3 files being distributed freely around the world and is now suffering from lost revenue because as a result.

However, the content and technology providers have collectively recognized the security issues and have learned from the music industry's revolutionary first endeavor. With this recognition it is conceivable that Internet rich media distribution can in fact become more secure then existing traditional distribution media. We have the opportunity to proactively make content secure at its source while integrating a persistent content protection solution that will further protect the content at the viewing destination.

This is a different paradigm from existing distribution channels where content protection is reactionary, or invoked from the act of its delivery (i.e. scrambled during broadcast or degradation of quality after reproduction) and is not necessarily protected at its source.

MeTV acknowledges the film industry's concerns and will manage the issue by working with our partners to create a secure, profitable and quality content delivery solution. We plan to attack the security issues surrounding the VOD model by taking a proactive approach with our technology partners and peers within the industry.



About MeTV.com MeTV.com, (www.metv.com) the revolutionary entertainment service that delivers real-time, on-demand, broadband, streaming movies and television programming over the Internet, will launch its consumer service this summer. Its user-friendly interface and wireless PC to TV delivery will follow in the fourth quarter, 2000. The MeTV.com web site will set a new standard in Internet delivered entertainment, blending the latest streaming technologies with traditional television. MeTV.com will offer consumers with broadband Internet access a diverse selection of movies and programming on-demand. Founded in 1988, MeTV.com's parent company, MeTV Network, Inc., is based in Waterford, CT, with offices in New London, CT, and Los Angeles, CA.

 

Post a message in the Digital Post Production World Wide User Group!