FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
NovaMedia Selects Widevine® Technologies to Protect VOD, Broadcast Content
Widevine selected as preferred content security vendor to protect IP video services
Seattle, WA, May 17, 2005 –Widevine Technologies, the most widely deployed content security provider for the video over IP market worldwide, and inventor of the first downloadable Virtual SmartCard™, today announced that NovaMedia of Reykjavik, Iceland, has chosen Widevine Cypher to provide content security for its complete video broadcast and video-on-demand (VOD) service.
NovaMedia launched its Internet Protocol (IP) broadcast service in 2001 over the country’s existing fiber network and has plans to launch its VOD service later this year. The company expects the new service to be particularly attractive to customers during the winter months, where the average Iceland home traditionally rents, on average, 3.5 movies per month. NovaMedia plans to roll out their VOD service to over 60,000 customers throughout Iceland, and to offer hospitality services as well.
“When we consulted the content owners to obtain IP video content licenses, they told us they would not grant licenses without an appropriate content security solution,” said Halldór Axelsson, Founder/CTO of NovaMedia. “Widevine is clearly the world leader in this area. The major factors in our choice of Widevine were their proven success with IP video deployments all over the globe and the high comfort level of major Hollywood studios with their solution. In addition, Widevine have the largest integrations to IP middleware, VOD servers and set top boxes, which offers the flexibility and choice we require to deliver premium content without compromising on content security. The result is we can persistently encrypt broadcast and VOD content for distribution and storage within the home. And our content licenses remain intact.”
Widevine’s Cypher Virtual SmartCard™ will be deployed on set top boxes within the customer premises of Novamedia’s network. This unique downloadable security approach significantly lowers the costs of securing content while dramatically lowering the potential for piracy. Today, Cypher Virtual SmartCards are the most deployed downloadable smart cards for IP video worldwide.
“Widevine has demonstrated itself to be the preferred solution for protecting the content in IP video networks in this age of digital piracy,” said Brian Baker, President and CEO of Widevine Technologies. “We are particularly pleased that European service providers such as NovaMedia see the value in a Widevine Secured solution which enables them to obtain and retain their content licenses now and into the future.”
About NovaMedia
NovaMedia is a group of companies in development and deployment of IP based broadband services with focus on hospitality and residential markets. The company is working with utilities and municipalities in Iceland on one of the most advanced fiber to the home projects in Europe.
NovaMedia is a private held company in Reykjavik, Iceland. For more information see www.media.is.
About Widevine Technologies, Inc.
Widevine is the most widely deployed provider of content security solutions to the video over IP market worldwide. Widevine enables telco, cable and satellite operators to generate new revenue opportunities through the secure distribution of their IP content. Widevine Cypher® is a comprehensive
conditional access (CAS) and digital rights management (DRM) solution. Utilizing a combination of hardware and software-based encryption, Cypher persistently encrypts both digital broadcast and VOD content, regardless of video infrastructure, network protocols or compression technologies. An innovator in the industry, Widevine invented the downloadable Virtual SmartCard™ which today protects more IP set top boxes in the industry than any other vendor. Widevine Virtual SmartCards quickly and affordably enable operators to combat piracy on STBs, PVRs and other devices within the home. Widevine Secured operators are guaranteed to encrypt studio and broadcaster content, across any video distribution network and on any Widevine Secured device in the home.
Widevine is a private held corporation headquartered in Seattle, WA and funded by Charter Ventures, Constellation Ventures, PaceSetter Capital Group, Phoenix Capital Partners, and VantagePoint Venture Partners.
For more information see Widevine Technologies at www.widevine.com.
Media Contact:
Eric Moser
Ruder Finn Chicago (for Widevine Technologies)
Tel: +1 312 329 3908
mosere@ruderfinn.com
Jonas Ingason
President
NovaMedia – skjamidlun ehf
Tel: +354 5911111
jonas@media.is
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