This switch from a traditional conditional access model to a DRM approach is representative of the increased flexibility that content owners are seeking. Conditional access worked well in a closed, hierarchical distribution model, but the numerous channels that can bring video to consumers in an Internet-dominated world requires a more sophisticated DRM solution, which traditional CA suppliers like Irdeto are not yet delivering. A deciding factor for SureWest was the ability to protect content downloaded to other devices, such as PCs or media players, rather than just controlling output from a set-top box.

Widevine, based in Seattle, supplies video content protection technology both for closed set-top box networks and open Internet distribution. These technologies include both rules-based rights enforcement and watermarking technology enabling rights holders to trace the origin of unauthorized content through all levels of video distribution chain. Widevine's Mensor technology supports watermarking algorithms from Dolby, Philips, and Thomson that can embed information into digital video content allowing all participants in video distribution—the originating studio, cable aggregators and operators, and the end-user—to be identified.

According to Widevine, although the underlying technology has been available for some time and seen use in niche applications, uptake by the industry has accelerated recently: Fox was an early enthusiast, but it has only been in the last eighteen months that all the major studios have become strong proponents. Although the initial rollout for SureWest does not include watermarking, the choice of Widevine technology means that it can be readily incorporated as studios look for additional protection.

As we have mentioned previously, watermarking is becoming an increasingly common component of rights management. Because it concentrates on detection, rather than prevention, it is much less intrusive for consumers and less likely to generate the sort of strong negative reaction that many DRMs do. Additionally, although such capabilities are not part of Widevine's current offerings, watermarking offers the potential to embed rights management information into content that can affect downstream uses, for example by crediting users who (legitimately) redistribute video in a superdistribution model, or by triggering restrictions on transfer to alternate media.

Watermarking adds negligible overhead to compressed video streams and requires only modest processing cost to embed (using a 2-stage process where the hard signal processing work happens at the beginning of the chain), making it cost-effective as a component of video distribution.

Widevine's watermarking technology has already provided key support in lawsuits filed to protect video copyrights. When pirated video is discovered, for example through an Internet-crawling service such as MediaDefender, or in cooperation with law enforcement when pirated discs are seized, the content owner can determine where the video originated. Using a Widevine-supplied appliance to determine what watermarks are in the content, the stage of distribution at which the copy was made can be determined, and the content can be traced back to the specific location and/or individuals responsible for obtaining the content.

Although most attention to video piracy focuses on content theft by end-users, in fact there are many other points in the distribution chain where losses can occur. For example, a corrupt employee of a cable distribution network could steal valuable high-resolution content by surreptitiously copying a hard disk—but because the content is watermarked to indicate which specific machine at the cable distributor held the content, investigation of the loss is simplified. This transaction-based approach for origin identification can be carried all the way out to an end-customer's set-top box, where less than 1 MIPS of processing can be used to insert a watermark identifying the specific customer and time at which the content was released. Transaction-based watermarks can also be inserted when a VOD stream is produced for an individual user—it does not require processing in the set-top box.

Widevine's combination of prevention-focused content protection and detection-focused watermarking is getting considerable market attention. Widevine's watermarking technology is currently being used by TVN Entertainment and other video networks, which the vendor estimates in aggregate to represent 40 to 50% of the North American video on demand market. TVN alone applies marks to all the movies they distribute— over 3500 hours of video every month. Watermarking is also being integrated into Widevine's recently-announced protection system for Adobe® Flash videos, although it is not present in the initial release of that technology.

Because of its consumer-friendliness and ease of integration, we expect increased use of watermark-based DRM in the future.

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