Viaccess-Orca (VO), a global expert in providing OTT and TV, as well as content protection and advanced data platforms, and ATEME, a specialist in video delivery systems for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT services, have this month announced a joint contribution watermarking solution.
Per a new partnership, VO's software-based dynamic watermarking technology is now embedded and ready-to-use within IRDs and encoders from ATEME, enabling content owners and providers to precisely identify the source of video piracy leaks within various distribution channels.
Offering a unique pay-per-use business model, the partners contend their new jointly offered solution removes complex pricing issues traditionally associated with watermarking, enabling faster technology adoption.
"Piracy is evolving. Hackers are exploiting new techniques to illegally access and redistribute video content, and the industry needs an accurate, scalable, and cost-efficient solution to identify the source of leaks," asserts Mathieu Harel, Product Director of Watermarking at Viaccess-Orca. He adds, "Collaborating with ATEME, we've developed a smarter method for tracking piracy -- one that focuses on the full content path as opposed to just the end points. With our solution, content owners and providers can protect their content and revenues in a way that was never before imaginable."
At the heart of the new platform is VO's dynamic watermarking technology, which, as explained by the company, "features multiple, dynamic algorithms with the ability to track and change watermarks in real-time. As content owners distribute live content to multiple affiliates, the solution tracks its path through different channels — including satellite and IP — injecting an invisible watermark on the video at each distribution point."
The new joint platform also offers a portal to VO's Anti-Piracy Center, where content leaks are closely monitored and then quickly identified so that content owners can consistently eliminate privacy breaches.
Unique pay-per-use business model
The partners maintain that the new solution's pay-per-use business model eliminates licensing, maintenance, and service fees, allowing content owners and providers to pay for contribution watermarking technology only when they use it.
Now supporting seamless integration into new and legacy encoders and IRDs from ATEME, VO says its watermarking technology is optimized for quick and easy deployment. The dynamic watermarking technology is software-based, allowing content owners and providers to scale the new solution rapidly as they address piracy concerns.
"By 2022 the cost of online video piracy is expected to reach $52 billion, and this problem is only going to get worse without an effective solution," points out Julien Mandel, Solution Marketing Senior Director at ATEME. He continues, "Teaming up with Viaccess-Orca, an industry leader in content protection, we've created a free solution that liberates content owners and providers from sizing their network, so that they can focus only on tracking the path of leaks throughout the distribution workflow. Before this, content providers were limited to only identifying the end point of leaked content, so this solution is a real game-changer for the industry."
The partners note the new joint solution supports BISS-CA encryption, an open protocol that enables real-time entitlement management for content streams over any network. When used in conjunction with dynamic watermarking, BISS-CA simplifies content owners' ability to trace the source of illegal streams and safeguard their content, making the new watermarking solution especially advantageous for live sports streaming applications.
More information about VO and the new contribution watermarking platform can be found here: https://www.viaccess-orca.com/tv-piracy/dynamic-watermarking.