More restrictions may be on the horizon for Multichoice subscribers. Irdeto, a company wholly-owned by the South African broadcaster, announced this weekend the launch of a new DRM system.
DRM stands for digital rights management. If you play PC or console games, you’d be familiar with the term. If you’re a paid-for-TV subscriber, it’s a little less likely to be in the front of your mind. Well, now’s a great time to start paying attention. Showmax users recently lost access to the ability to share streams and a greater crackdown might be on the cards.
Not much of a Multichoice
Irdeto announced its new DRM aimed at tackling “session sharing, overzealous credential sharing, and illegal streaming” this weekend. The actual release leans heavily on jargon but some of the features of Irdeto Control are immediately apparent.
The software’s concurrent stream management aspect apparently side-steps any attempts to confuse systems into thinking only one stream is in play. This will allow users to “accurately enforce content and service usage rules in real-time”.
The company’s DRM also offers “geo-IP enforcement offerings” which lets users block content as a subscriber, content, or geographical level. The latter can be executed by country, region, or city, and also includes the ability to “detect and block VPN and proxy services”.
Irdeto hasn’t confirmed where its new DRM will be used but since it’s aimed at “pay-TV operators and media companies” and the company is owned by Multichoice, its usage seems rather obvious. It’s not so much a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of ‘when’. Your DStv experience may well be about to get considerably more restrictive (unless you give the company more money, of course).
The ‘more money’ thing isn’t really touched on, but Irdeto is explicitly looking to help users “define and monetize their over-the-top (OTT) offerings using diverse concurrency models based on subscriber, content and device segmentation”. In addition to limiting streams, it’ll make it easier to charge more for multiple streams. More varied pricing, based on the number of devices, could also be in the offing. Whether that pricing will be worth paying remains to be seen.