Cablelabs, the research group that designs technology for the US and global cable operator community, has completed its long awaited definition for a content protection scheme that allows the copying of content from cable TV services to portable devices.
It is called DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Copy Protection on IP) and the work came from the 4Cs group, whoops it should be 5Cs now. Actually it’s renamed itself to the DTLA, or Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator, which is a joint venture organization with Hitachi, Intel, Matsushita, Sony and Toshiba as members.
That used to be IBM, Intel, Matsushita and Toshiba about 4 years ago , but obviously Hitachi inherited the content protection interest when it bought out parts of IBM’s storage business and Sony just thought it had to get in on the action.
Essentially what they have specified is an authentication scheme for placing a decryption key into a hidden location on a memory chip, so that it can decrypt a copy of encrypted content on that particular piece of memory, without allowing it to be copied yet again. Copy the contents of the chip and the key doesn’t copy over, and the content cannot be pirated.
It turns out that buying a license to this technology is really what Cablelabs has been up to all this time, that and perhaps waiting for it to become more robust. The DTLA has 140 license agreements for its technology with manufacturers of semiconductors, set-top cable and satellite boxes, consumer electronics and PCs, as well as licensing it all to most of the big studios.
Cablelabs can now begin certifying devices that are allowed to take copies of pay TV content, including VoD, and almost certainly this will include Sony handheld devices such as the PSP, as well as cellular handsets and a new breed of dedicated devices which we would expect to emerge sold by the US cable operators.
Studios Paramount, Sony, Disney and Warner Brothers also approved the use of the technology for copying to portable devices.
‘The agreement we reached today addresses the highly complex concerns raised by the affected parties – cable, content, and consumer electronics – and brings benefits to consumers,” said Dr. Richard R. Green, President and CEO of CableLabs. “Working together we agreed on solutions that meet our respective business needs, and serve the interests of consumers and content providers,’ he added.
DTLA will offer cable operators and other multi-channel video service providers, by which we assume they mean satellite operators, a new Operator Participant Agreement that provides participation in the DTLA change management process.