Irdeto

Grow your OTT business despite credentials sharing

Sure, people share their Netflix – or your OTT service – user names and passwords with their buddies and families. Or their credentials get stolen and posted on the internet for illegal use. But is this a “solvable” problem, in the practical sense of the word? Or can you grow your OTT service despite credentials sharing?

Credentials sharing isn’t necessarily Darth Vader in the OTT galaxy
Trying to solve the “credentials sharing problem” is an impressive goal, but possibly a wasteful one and a diversion from the real problem – service abuse.

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A successful pirate raid combines investigative skills and teamwork

Pirates know what sells in their market. While content redistribution over the internet is a major global problem, we shouldn’t overlook control word sharing. In Africa, this is still a highly profitable business for pirates. Well, until they’re raided and sentenced that is!

Setting the scene
As part of a long running investigation working with Multichoice Africa Limited (MAL), a cybercrime syndicate was identified in Egypt.

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Is the tide turning against online pirates?

Pirates move at internet speed. Unhindered by rules and regulations they continually adapt; leaving the content owners, media industry and legal institutions to play catchup. My earlier blog highlighted 3 initiatives in the fight against piracy , and in the last month or so there are more examples of how the tide might be starting to turn against the pirates.

European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling
Recently, the ECJ ruled on a long running case between BREIN (the Dutch anti-piracy group) and Filmspeler.nl, that selling streaming devices preloaded with pirate streaming links and add-ons is illegal.

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Can site blocking help fight online piracy?

With the proliferation of different ways to access pirated content, does site blocking have any impact? That was a question I received during a recent piracy panel discussion. Let’s have a look to see if it does.

What is it?

Put simply, site blocking is a technical means by which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can disable consumer access to target sites. This can be by using DNS based -, Url- or IP blocking capabilities.

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What lessons can pay-media operators learn from online retail?

With consumers as the common denominator, it’s not surprising that similarities can be seen across some industries. In the media industry, the need for change to keep up with changing consumer demand is widely accepted. But what is the formula for success? Can any parallels be drawn with online retail?

Online’s disruptive nature
It was a Forbes article that made me think: ‘The inconvenient truth about e-commerce: it’s largely unprofitable’. It explains that e-commerce has been disruptive. The radical shift online is presenting challenges

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Collaboration is critical for a successful raid against online pirates

Gone are the days where online piracy was an individual sharing illegal content with a few select “friends”. Today, online piracy is a highly sophisticated operation that often spans different countries and jurisdictions. To be effective in fighting this continually growing threat requires a team of experts.

Pre-match build up
OTT piracy remains the biggest threat facing pay-media operators and content rights holders. Illegal supply of premium content, especially live events such as soccer is driving this increase.

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Will Android kill middleware as we know it?

Google’s Android operating system took just a few years to go from upstart newcomer to dominating the global mobile market. Can it do the same for TV?

In my last blog, a primer on Android for STBs, I described the options available to operators: the “plug-and-play” Android TV service, and the more customizable self-build route based on AOSP. Is this combination enough to kill-off the market in proprietary middleware?

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