Advanced Television

NexGuard, Ericsson team for Network ID watermarking

September 5, 2017

Forensic watermarking technology and solutions provider NexGuard has unveiled its Network ID product, set to be launched as a technology partnership with Ericsson, at IBC 2017 in Amsterdam.

NexGuard’s Network ID solution inserts a unique invisible and robust forensic watermark in primary distribution feeds for linear TV, be it satellite or fibre. The watermark provides clear evidence of the distribution path to determine the source of illegally distributed signals (e.g. for live sports broadcasts). This allows the content owner to focus their anti-piracy efforts on the sources of significant piracy. The Network ID watermark also serves as proof of ownership to enable the take down of pirated streams (e.g. from social media).

The Network ID solution has been designed for today’s global mission critical broadcast systems and has already been integrated with Ericsson’s RX8200 Advanced Modular Receiver for satellite distribution applications.

“Tracing illicit content activity is a necessary and critical first step in fighting today’s greatest piracy challenges, such as the illegal re-distribution of live sports,” declared Maurice van Riek, Kudelski Group SVP content and asset security. “NexGuard is honoured to be working with Ericsson to provide a solution that is pre-integrated with today’s TV & Media industry workflows. Network ID offers a clear indication of the sources of piracy, so that rights holders can focus their anti-piracy efforts where it matters.”

NexGuard forensic watermarking adds a unique, invisible identifier to video content. The watermark remains with the content, even in the case of transcoding, resizing, downscaling, recording by camcorder or any other alteration before illegal re-distribution. The Network ID watermark can be detected through the NexGuard online detection portal, a scalable, automated detection service. As a complement to Network ID, NexGuard’s sister company NAGRA offers a comprehensive set of global anti-piracy monitoring and take-down services for Web, IPTV/Kodi and social media piracy.

Categories: Articles, Content, Piracy, Rights