Foreseeing a growth in its demand in IPTV broadcasting service market, digital rights management (DRM) solution firms such as Core Trust, Sealtronic and Mark Any are moving fast to take better position in the market.
KT, the largest communication operator in Korea, launched Internet protocol-based TV (IPTV) broadcasting service in June last year, and Hanaro Telecom plans to do so in the first half of this year. As IPTV broadcasting content can easily be copied by personal video recorders (PVRs) or digital video recorders (DVRs), however, broadcasters need to adopt DRM solutions to prevent piracy.
Core Trust (http://www.coretrust.com) rolled out DRM solution designed for IPTV, `iTV Keeper`, that can prevent unauthorized copying or illegal distribution of digital broadcasting content. Earlier, the company already commercialized the DRM solution in Japan. Core Trust plans to launch `iTV Keeper 2.0` and a conditional access system (CAS) for digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) service during the first half.
Having developed `RSBB (rights@for broadband)` technology, Sealtronic (http://www.sealtronic.com) is now working on development of a security solution for download and streaming service, and a solution supporting game on demand (GOD) service. `RSBB` technology can encode broadcasting content, restricting time, number of use and number of license issuance while preventing illegal capture of content in individual user environment.
Based on its experience in supplying DRM solution for set-to-boxes in Japan, Mark Any (http://www.markany.com) is developing a DRM system for IPTV broadcasting content in conjunction with one of leading portal operators. Mark Any intends to foster IPTV DRM solution as a new mainstream business.
"Aiming to devise a middleware installed with DRM solution, we have been developing DRM technology for IP set-top-boxes since last year," said Yu Se-geun, director of content business at Mark Any.