There are a few things to follow-up on from last week’s joint announcement between French vendors Ateme and Viaccess-Orca, producing a contribution watermarking system which embeds VO’s software-based forensic watermarking technology into Ateme’s encoders and IRDs (integrated receiver decoders). The first thing we questioned is the pricing model. How does VO make any money from this collaboration if the watermarking license is being given away completely free? In removing the value from a technology – particularly software like forensic watermarking which typically costs a premium – comes all the usual concerning connotations of market commoditization. The answer lies behind the pay-per-use model, which reflects the general trend of shifting to more of a service approach that is preferred by operators,…