INSIDE Secure premium content protection lets new Astral video streaming services go mobile
March 27, 2013
INSIDE Secure, a specialist in embedded solutions for securing transactions, content and digital identity, has teamed with Astral Television Networks, Canada’s largest broadcaster of English and French language pay and specialty television services. They have partnered to protect the delivery of more than 1,000 hours of high-definition quality programming from The Movie Network, HBO Canada and The Movie Network Encore to subscribers’ iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini and iPod touch devices. Astral is using the INSIDE downloadable DRM Fusion Agent in its new TMN GO mobile app, which subscribers can download to their iOS devices to view premium video content from Astral’s newly launched The Movie Network GO (TMN GO), HBO GO Canada and TMN Encore GO video streaming services in Canada.
“Our TMN GO video streaming service and the TMN GO mobile app are the latest in a long line of innovations from Astral and TMN. We believe they will be a game changer for our business by providing our subscribers with unprecedented choice, control and convenience whilst enjoying premium entertainment across multiple platforms,” said Domenic Vivolo, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Astral Television Networks. “The INSIDE DRM Fusion Agent software will, in the future, provide us with the flexibility to deploy TMN GO on other major mobile platforms as needed.”
With a sleek cinematic design and interface that offers superior functionality, TMN GO, HBO GO Canada and TMN Encore GO are best-in-class services that allow subscribers to engage with more than 1,000 hours of premium content. The services are currently available in Eastern Canada to customers of Bell TV, Rogers and Cogeco Cable, with additional television providers expected to join in the coming months.
“Astral has created an advanced video streaming service that offers subscribers unprecedented features and functionality, including the ability to watch up to three streams simultaneously on up to five registered devices, over Wi-Fi or 3G networks. It is also possible to start watching on one device and continue on another,” said Dr. Simon Blake-Wilson, INSIDE’s vice president of embedded security solutions. “We are proud that our downloadable DRM Fusion Agent is able to play a pivotal role in enabling such flexibility and convenience while protecting the premium entertainment content.”
About 60 million mobile apps with downloadable DRM Fusion Agent software embedded in them have already been downloaded by consumers worldwide, protecting billions of premium content playbacks. This offers developers the critical Microsoft PlayReady, Windows Media DRM, OMA DRM 2.X and/or UltraViolet security they need in their mobile apps to enable premium content to be played on Apple iOS, Android and BlackBerry 10-based mobile devices. Approved for use by Apple, Microsoft, RIM and all the major Hollywood studios, the downloadable DRM Fusion Agent software provides content protection and packaging, licensing and key management for multiple mobile device platforms and operating systems.
The INSIDE downloadable DRM Fusion Agent software allows protected high-value content to be distributed in a single, uniform and secure way to all supported platforms and devices. Operators can more quickly deploy secure content services and support a variety of business models, including ad-supported and pre-paid services. This dramatically reduces DRM implementation costs and time to market. It also enables media companies and high-value content providers to more quickly achieve revenue from service deployment by eliminating the dependence on mobile phone and device manufacturers to embed DRM protection.