NAB Show 2019 was the place to be for all things associated with distribution and delivery of valuable content. From the latest in cloud-based content protection and anti-piracy innovations to strategies and solutions to drive content monetization, NAGRA took part in this conversation by showcasing its impressive line-up of proven solutions. And, with NAGRA being an active partner on the road to ATSC 3.0, this year’s show did not disappoint. Here are the key highlights.
Cloud-Based Content Value Protection and Content Monetization:
Regarding content protection and content monetization, Broadband Technology Report’s article “Pay TV strategies for long-term success” outlines the situation at hand.
“In today's evolving TV landscape, service providers must adapt to meet viewer's demands to consume whatever content they want, wherever and whenever they desire. To address this challenge head on, operators are re-considering their offerings, as well as their technology and operations platforms. If pay TV players can understand and address current trends, such as piracy, the cloud, AI-based analytics and sports OTT streaming, they are well on their way to integrating a business strategy for success.”
It is common knowledge that NAGRA ensures efficient on-boarding of OTT content, effective content value protection and an elegant data-driven approach to content discovery. The result of these efforts is service loyalty and monetization - key factors in today’s TV landscape. At NAB, the team showcased the comprehensive nature of its solutions, which were outlined in a Q&A article by OTT Executive Magazine’s, Nichole Janowsky, with NAGRA’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Ivan Verbesselt, titled, “As Traditional TV and OTT Blend Together, New Challenges Arise.”
In the article, Ivan points out, “Our cloud-based and OTT solutions are perfectly suited for this new environment. They include cloud SSP, our cloud-based Security Service Platform, a unified and flexible platform for managing all operator content security requirements across all screens; advanced and off-the shelf OTT solutions, such as the OpenTV Suite and Conax GO Live; and a new low-latency Sports OTT Streaming offering that delivers an immersive fan experience for sports leagues and teams. All of our OTT solutions are suited for any device, including Android.”
Anti-Piracy Service and Forensic Watermarking:
In Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen of Streaming Media’s article “Five Takeaways from NAB 2019: The Trends That Shaped South Hall,” he shared, “As OTT audiences grow, so do the number of pirates in their midst. At this year's NAB, security was a top concern, and now that DRM is a given service providers and OTT platforms are looking at other ways of protecting their content. NAGRA had well-attended exhibits under the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance umbrella at NAB, with each focusing on security at a different stage of the video ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, MESA’s Chris Tribbey’s article, “NAGRA Has a (Good) Problem” highlighted, “Jaap Haitsma, CTO with NAGRA anti-piracy services and NexGuard, said his department is seeing more and more piracy attacks via OTT services and live-streaming sports. Piracy is going to happen, he said, and watermarking is one of the best ways to tackle it.”
NAGRA demonstrated its approach to proactively fighting and disrupting the growing scale and sophistication of ever-evolving piracy threats by providing a combined approach of anti-piracy services and forensic watermarking for premium live sports and VOD content. Latest technology innovations include watermarking with very short detection time for pre-release content, as well as linear channel watermarking to enable broadcasters and sports rights owners to identify which affiliate’s distribution channel or licensee’s TV channel is most often the source of pirated content.
Ken Gerstein, VP of Sales, NAGRA Anti-Piracy and Nexguard took a more in depth look at these points – and others – in the Akamai TV video, Balancing Acts: OTT piracy and the viewer experience.
The Road to ATSC 3.0:
According to Sara Winegardner’s Cablefax article “ATSC 3.0 Takes Over Vegas During NAB,” “…while there’s plenty to see and explore on the show floor, you’d be remiss not to take a peek at what’s coming down the line from the world of next generation television, also known as ATSC 3.0. And with the US proposing that the International Telecommunication Union adopt the ATSC 3.0 digital broadcast standard for use by all countries in the world, there’s no better time than now to become familiar with it.”
Any next-gen solution combining the delivery of services using OTA signals with broadband IP must have the necessary rights control and protection so that content piracy does not flourish and the people in the business of entertaining the masses with premium movies, sports and other valued content are properly protected, where protection is required. ATSC 3.0 is no exception.
When it comes to ATSC 3.0, NAGRA is supplying its premium security solutions and will play a key role within the TV and Gateway domain, as well as other elements such as anti-piracy, IoT and moving vehicle projects.
As part of this progress, the Radio+Television Business Report’s “A Tool To ‘Seamlessly Enable’ ATSC 3.0 Video Services” touted, “NAGRA, BitRouter and Harmonic is using its presence at the NAB Show to demonstrate a new tool that provides broadcasters and device manufacturers with a flexible way to prepare for the launch of the new ATSC 3.0 Next Generation Broadcast Standard and related video services on both connected and unconnected ATSC 3.0 devices.”
Sports Video Group’s article also added, “On display at the BitRouter booth, the end-to-end solution integrates NAGRA content-protection technologies, the BitRouter ATSC 3.0 receiver stack, and the Harmonic Packager XOS for live OTT streaming. Integration of these various technologies enables an addressable solution to monetize ATSC 3.0 services and upsell consumers migrating to the standard. It also features a purchasing capability using existing mobile communication channels along with ATSC OTA and broadband-IP transmission.”
Now that NAB is behind us, the stage is set for a number of exciting innovations and conversations coming this year. And, with the launch of NAGRA and MTM’s fourth edition of the Pay-TV Innovation Forum, we can expect some interesting insights into the M&E landscape that will continue driving exciting innovations forward.