Digital TV technology consultants Farncombe sees growing opportunities for cardless broadcast security.
Following a survey of 200 industry experts, the company has produced a white paper that examines the trends in technology and cost models for digital TV security.
Highlights of the findings include: for some operators, there can be real benefits in adopting cardless solutions on one-way networks; the total cost of ownership (TCO) for cardless security solutions can, in many cases, provide a distinct advantage for broadcast operators.
Rapid advances in both the technology of set-top box System on Chip (SoC) devices and the techniques to secure the software that runs on the SoCs are creating highly credible options for broadcast deployments.
The white paper, sponsored by Verimatrix also incorporates complementary results from Farncombe’s Security and Piracy Survey conducted in Q3 2012. This polled a panel of more than 200 industry experts including broadcasters, content owners, pay-TV operators, middleware/security vendors and device manufacturers, along with an independent assessment of how operators regard evolving threats to their business.
For example, 90%of respondents believe that cardless conditional access offers advantages in logistics management and the cost of rollout. Overall, the industry believes the piracy threat in increasingly broadband-connected populations will shift from today’s direct attacks on broadcast security systems to Internet redistribution of content streams in the next five years.
The white paper also analyses the TCO of card-based and cardless CA for pay-DTH operators and the impact of potential piracy attacks It contains observations on how market changes are affecting the nature of piracy threats, and the rise of content redistribution as a specific threat, as well as including a checklist for operators considering buying cardless solutions especially when planning to roll out multi-screen services.
“This paper is an important commentary on how technology and piracy developments in the industry are changing perceptions of cardless security systems and their suitability within one-way broadcast networks,” stated Andrew Glasspool, managing partner at Farncombe and one of the authors of the white paper, in a statement.
“The shifts we are seeing in broadcast security, taken in conjunction with the rapid evolution of hybrid network services, illustrate how rapidly companies must evolve to protect pay-TV revenue streams.”