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Tag: DRM

  • Broadband growth ups demand for premium online content in North America

    Broadband growth ups demand for premium online content in North America

    MUMBAI: Rapidly rising broadband penetration in North America has set the stage for increased demand and rapid growth of premium or paid online content applications such as music, gaming and video/movies. This is bringing in opportunities for the consumer broadband market and participants that can identify and deliver compelling content to their customers.

    This market has earned revenues of $2.45 billion in 2005 and is likely to exceed $10 billion in 2012, suggests the findings from Frost & Sullivan (www.frost.com/communicationsservices) analysis North American Residential Online Content Services Markets.

    “For mainstream consumers, online content has been inextricably linked to Internet usage and rising broadband penetration is further cementing this bond,” notes Frost & Sullivan research analyst Piyush Arora. “As broadband service providers continue to enhance speeds and bandwidth limits for their subscribers, new opportunities are cropping up in terms of content applications that can be delivered on these fast connections.”

    Premium online content applications such as music, video/movies and gaming offer broadband service providers a competitive advantage in a market where participants have largely competed on speed and pricing. Providing content can also help service providers sell ‘triple play’ or ‘quadruple play’ service bundles to customers.

    The study indicates tha online gaming is undoubtedly the most popular of these applications, currently accounting for the bulk of market revenues, at 59 percent. Music and video are fast catching up and becoming popular among broadband consumers. At present, online music and video revenues constitute 34 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of the total paid content market revenue, informs an official release.

    However, a key challenge facing all market participants is the need to strictly control unauthorized on-line content distribution as well as the piracy of copyright protected content. A related challenge is to ensure that the various competing digital rights management (DRM) technologies and standards, needed for the legal distribution of digital content, are compatible with each other. Currently, the leading on-line content distributors and device vendors use different proprietary standards.

    In 2004, the loss to the U.S. music industry due to illegal file sharing exceeded a massive $2 billion, which demonstrated the seriousness of this challenge. Unless the rights of artists and other copyright owners are protected, content owners – including music recording companies and movie studios – are not likely to consider the Internet on an equal footing with traditional media.

    “Online content distributors and specialist content providers must therefore, continue to collaborate with content owners, technology companies, broadband service providers and other stakeholders to curb the illegal distribution of digital content,” says Arora. “The online music market has already benefited from these efforts, which can reap similar results in the emerging video market as well.”

    Moreover, participants must take concrete steps to resolve the DRM interoperability issues, to encourage consumers to actively use the Internet as a mainstream medium for accessing paid content.

    North American Residential Online Content Services Markets, part of the Communications Services Subscription, provides an analysis of the current and future market for premium or paid online content services and applications along with the key market drivers and restraints and industry challenges faced by various stakeholders in the industry.

  • AIR conducts trial runs for digital short wave

    AIR conducts trial runs for digital short wave

    NEW DELHI: The first digital transmitter for All India Radio (AIR) on the short wave is already going through a successful trial run, officials say, adding that the pilot run for the medium wave digital radio too, will commence from May or June this year.

    The transmitter (250 kw) – which started operating from Republic Day this year is on the short wave band and broadcasting for Delhi, with the ‘skip distance’ reduced to “near zero”, officials have revealed to indiantelevision.com, and data transmission is also on.

    This means that if you have the required receiver, you could here and now access digital radio, and while listening to radio news or music, you could read on your set the news flashes and even see where the bulls or bears are in the stock market, said officials, requesting not to be named.

    The system is operating on DRM technology, which AIR experts feel is the best choice, as it covers all existing bands, medium, short and long waves.

    The handsets are being taken to various locations in Delhi now, and being tested with the required equipment, and it has been found that the skip distance, or the distance between where the transmitter is and the first point from where the waves are actually accessible, has been reduced from almost zero in some places, to one or two kilometres in others. The usual skip distance would be around 70 km.

    But as a senior official explained, skip distance is not a major issue. “We could reduce the skip distance for analogue too, depending on the content and the target audience.”

    What he meant was that if the programme is being broadcast from Delhi but for Jharkhand, the skip distance could be extended to 1,000 km, and for, say, England, it could made available from about 3,000 km from where the transmission is taking place.

    These adjustments can be made in repositioning the antenna, they explained.

    “The point is that we have been successful in handling this technology and the transmitter is functioning perfectly. The only problem is that receivers are not available in the country,” the official held.

    According to him, the receivers, for which costs have been calculated, at the moment come for euro 200. But as officials in charge of the AIR digitalisation programme have been saying, the cost will come down with increase in demand.

    The big calculation is that once India and China go for DRM technology, that would mean something close to half the world’s population, and most market players would look at the sheer volume and cut the prices.

    “There are various standards in digital radio transmission, officials explained, which include Eureka 147 DAB, IBOC (HD Radio) and DRM. But the latter allows transmission on all the bands we presently have and also the FM band.

    The advantage of DRM technology is that no additional band allocation is required and no additional spectrum is needed.

    What the trial transmission is now giving is FM quality sound on medium and short waves and CD quality sound on FM, officials said.

    “Objective measurements are going on for sound quality and we shall check all the myriad factors before we go for expansion,” the officials asserted.

    There is dialogue within the DRM Consortium, the officials said, and efforts are being made to rope in member countries, with an eye to cutting down the cost of receivers.

    But when would private players come in and add to the market factor that would reduce price for tabletop digital radio sets?

    The officials said that FM had been set up 20 years before the market started seeing the money in it. But with the FM experiment successful, market players may not take that long with digital radio. “This could happen in three or four years.

    “Our point is to create the infrastructure and that has been successfully done in the initial phase of experimentation,” the officials said.

  • AIR’s digitalisation to stretch beyond 2015

    AIR’s digitalisation to stretch beyond 2015

    NEW DELHI: The All India Radio digitalisation programme may not be complete by 2015 due to shortage of funds, says AIR engineer-in-chief AS Guin.

    The Short Wave bands will be digitalised first and this can be achieved by 2015, provided the Planning Commission releases the entire amount, but medium wave “which is the poor man’s band” will not be fully digitalised and more specifically, there will not be complete switch off from analogue to digital radio, Guin explains.

    The AIR has asked for Rs 59 billion from the Commission under the 11th Five Year Plan. They feel the amount is huge, and the government may not be able to release the entire fund. To go for complete digitalisation would take much more funds – almost astronomical – and AIR mandarins feel that they should not ask for the moon, which is why no further plans are afoot for asking for more funds.

    Short wave transmitters that have been in use for more than 20 years will be replaced and these alone would be DRM compatible, not all.

    “But in any case, we shall not switch off the analogue mode for the medium wave by 2015, because that is the wave compatible with the radios costing Rs 50 or 100, the one used by the poorer section of the society. They will not be able to bear the cost, so we cannot deny them the only source of information and entertainment some of them have,” Guin stressed.

    In fact, as of date even the fairly well-to-do would not be able, or may not wish to spend money buying a digital radio set.

    “The ones available cost in today’s prices about $70, that is Rs 3,500,” Guin revealed, adding: “This is prohibitively costly.”

    So why bring in a technology that even the well-off may not opt for?

    “It is expected the prices will come down as we go by,” he averred. There are two factors at play here.

    First, as and when DRM technology goes national, prices will come down. “As of now, most countries are using DRM technology for SW for their external broadcasting. National lever SW DRM tests have been conducted in Mexico and other places,” Guin said. But when DRM goes national, the price will come down.

    The other factor is that as the new digital mode becomes popular, the prices of the sets would also come down.

    “The main thing will be the content,” Guin said. The content for SW and MW have to be different, because if the same content is run on both, why would anyone buy a costly handset to catch SW?” he asks.

    There have to be popular programmes specially developed for SW bands, he felt, otherwise the digital radio programme will not pick up in good earnest.

    The digitalisation process would start with all the studios. Each state capital would have one Short Wave transmitter and there will be three transmission complexes with five transmitters per complex for national digital radio coverage.

    These complexes will be suitably located., Each complex will transmit five digital channels across the country, including regional language channels. This will mean that these channels will be accessible across the country. So, a Bengali in Mumbai would not have a problem if he wishes to hear All India Radio Kolkata.

    Explaining the merits of such a costly technology, Guin said that interactive broadcasts and a number of value-added services will be possible. One of the most important things will be the pro-active role AIR will get to play in disaster management.

    AIR will introduce a system across the channels on the coastal belts, which will be integrated with the early warning systems.

    Thus, whenever an early warning is triggered off the computer linkage with the radio stations will ensure that the channel would automatically switch over to transmitting the warning, with the ongoing programme switched off.

    Once the warning has been issued, the radio station would switch over to the normal ongoing programme. This will give a huge lead time for people to evacuate.

  • Digital online content revenues to touch €8.3 billion in 2010 in Europe

    Digital online content revenues to touch €8.3 billion in 2010 in Europe

    MUMBAI: Revenues from online content will reach €8.3 billion by 2010 in Europe, a growth of over 400 per cent in five years, says a new study by media analyst Screen Digest for the European Commission’s Directorate General Information Society and Media.

    The study entitled Interactive Content and Convergence: Implications for the information Society had two major objectives.

    Firstly, to assess the potential growth of digital content including TV, movies, games, radio, music and publishing content across new distribution platforms and technologies, such as interactive TV, broadband and mobile. Secondly, and most importantly, to identify the current and potential economic, technical and legal obstacles that might hinder the exploitation of digital content in Europe.

    The research found that the spread of broadband, the roll-out of advanced mobile networks, and the massive adoption of digital devices mean that online content is on the verge of becoming mass market, especially in the sector of music and games, where the proportion of revenues made online already represent a significant percentage of overall income. Although the European market is growing steadily, technological, economic and legal challenges were identified that need to be addressed to ensure European creative industries can maximise the potential economic and social benefits.

    The research will be a contribution to the communication on ’Content Online in Europe’s Single Market’ which should be presented later this year by Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media.

    The report highlights some of the key obstacles to developing online content and assesses their market impact up to 2010. These include:

    Technology: Although broadband access is spreading in Europe there are still wide ranging differences between countries. The average broadband penetration per capita was 17 per cent at the end of 2006, with 30 per cent in Denmark, 21 per cent in the UK and only 2.5 per cent in Greece. For mobile services, the relatively slow uptake of 3G in Europe (11 per cent at end-2005), and the sometimes confusing pricing and structure of data tariffs are obstacles still to be overcome.

    Copyright. Issues here include difficulties in accessing content due to the definitions of new media, exploitation rights, terms of trade and collective management of rights at international level all have the capacity to negatively impact access to content. However Screen Digest’s view is that many of the difficulties could be solved through business and legal practice in the medium to long term.

    Digital piracy still significantly limits potential online revenue and dissuades rights-holders from making content available online. An answer to this is efficient Digital Rights Management systems (DRM) to manage and protect digital content.

    As the market matures, evolving business practises will tackle many obstacles but some others may require national or EU legislation to provide legal certainty for consumers, content providers, service providers and technology providers.

    Screen Digest senior analyst Vincent Letang says, “This was a fascinating consultancy brief for Screen Digest to be part of. The scope of the project was huge: over the nine months we interviewed 180 entities in Europe, including content and technology providers, network operators and regulators. In addition we carried out significant research and analysis across 25 European countries and many media sectors. We are very proud that the research we have done will contribute to the European Commission’s policy on digital content and help companies in the EU understanding the potential for revenue and jobs creation in the region.”
     

  • Music industry ponders digital future

    Music industry ponders digital future

    MUMBAI: Who wants free music? Well as a matter of fact everybody. The spiraling downward trend of global music sales for a seventh straight year was the topic of discussion at MIDEM, the IFPI annual industry meeting in Cannes, France.
    Although the popularity of music is as strong as ever, global sales are expected to be down again for 2006 despite digital sales almost doubling to $2 billion.

    The IFPI has met with criticism from some of the major players who insisted that they had been distracted by the fight against piracy which may have also hindered the growth of the legal business.

    In a counter to this allegation IFPI head John Kennedy reportedly told Reuters in an interview that, “Many people around the world tell me that we’ve handled our problems in an incorrect manner but no one tells me what we should have done.

    The industry debated the concept of digital rights management or DRM which can restrict the use of music bought online and was introduced in a bid to contain piracy.
    Its supporters say DRM also offers alternative methods such as subscription or advertising-supported services as the music cannot then be offered onto peer-to-peer networks.
    One drawback of DRM is that tracks bought legally from Web sites such as Rhapsody cannot be used on the market-leading iPod as they are not compatible, potentially restricting the growth of legal sales.

    “DRM is like polonium to some people,” Kennedy said. “Digital rights management is exactly that, it’s the management of digital rights and if we weren’t managing it the headlines would be ‘irresponsible music industry … creates anarchy.’”

    eMusic chief executive David Pakman is a major critic of DRM. His service is the delivers tracks in the MP3 format, meaning they can be played on any portable music player, including the iPod.However, none of the four major labels are ready to supply to this service.

    “It’s the same model that was used for the CD and DVD, universal compatibility, and we think it’s the principal thing holding back the growth of digital today,” he told Reuters.
    EMI Music head of digital Barney Wragg talking to Reuters said that digital was revolutionizing the way they work.
    “I was just talking to (British singer) Joss Stone who is very excited about the opportunities this offers,” Wragg said. “We’re not constrained to the plastic CD box any more. It offers the possibility to do things that could never be done before.”
     

  • Digital rights management market to cross billion dollar mark by 2011: Study

    Digital rights management market to cross billion dollar mark by 2011: Study

     MUMBAI: As organizations continue to digitize content in the current business environment, there is substantial need to emphasize the rights on its usage and establish control to avoid any loss of data. This need is expected to have a huge bearing on the enterprise digital rights management (DRM) systems market.

    Frost & Sullivan (www.ITservices.frost.com) and World Digital Rights Management Market, reveal that the market was worth $369.5 million in 2005 and is likely to cross the billion-dollar mark in 2011.

    As companies continue to lose sensitive data such as financial information, customer profiles and marketing collateral through e-mail or other forms of data transfer, there is a rising need to deploy systems that not only track but also control the use of information. Theft of sensitive data can not only cause a company financial loss, but can also result in brand erosion and eventually, reduce its revenue generation capacity.

    “The need to minimize liability by ensuring that only authorized users have access to appropriate documents will have a positive impact on the demand for DRM solutions,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Zippy Aima. “DRM solutions enable content owners to assign specific rights such as view, copy, edit and print to files that need to be protected and these rights remain active and travel with the protected file unless changed by the content owner.”

    An official statement issued states that despite these obvious advantages, DRM vendors will find it challenging to convince companies that DRM will not severely curtail access and that organizations can meet their revenue generation goals using this technology.

    DRM systems have garnered greater attention in the media industry than in the enterprise sector. Some end users consider DRM to be a hindrance to the entertainment sector, but the success of the iPod and iTunes is an indicator of the change in consumer buying behaviour. Users are gradually regarding DRM more as ‘enabler’ than a ‘disabler’ for accessing digital content.

    “Apart from the shift in perception, the need to comply with regulations such the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm Leach Bliley, and Sarbanes Oxley is also driving the market ahead,” notes Aima. “Vertical markets such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and energy are focusing on regulatory compliance, thus ensuring the steady uptake of DRM solutions.”

    World Digital Rights Management Market is part of the Digital Media subscription. The study provides an overview of the enterprise and entertainment DRM segments and the factors that will affect its growth in future. The study’s evaluation of the market includes revenue and demand forecasts for DRM solutions in the coming years. Also, the study identifies factors driving and restraining the growth of the market along with key challenges faced by the industry.

  • Digital media proliferation, resultant security threats drive DRM systems market

    Digital media proliferation, resultant security threats drive DRM systems market

    MUMBAI: As organisations continue to digitise content in the current business environment, there is substantial need to emphasize the rights on its usage and establish control to avoid any loss of data. This need is expected to have a huge bearing on the enterprise digital rights management (DRM) systems market.

    Frost & Sullivan’s report World Digital Rights Management Market, reveals that the market was worth $369.5 million in 2005 and is likely to cross the billion-dollar mark in 2011.

    As companies continue to lose sensitive data such as financial information, customer profiles and marketing collateral through e-mail or other forms of data transfer, there is a rising need to deploy systems that not only track but also control the use of information. Theft of sensitive data can not only cause a company financial loss, but can also result in brand erosion and eventually, reduce its revenue generation capacity.

    Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Zippy Aima says, “The need to minimize liability by ensuring that only authorized users have access to appropriate documents will have a positive impact on the demand for DRM solutions. DRM solutions enable content owners to assign specific rights such as view, copy, edit and print to files that need to be protected and these rights remain active and travel with the protected file unless changed by the content owner.”

    Despite these obvious advantages, DRM vendors will find it challenging to convince companies that DRM will not severely curtail access and that organisations can meet their revenue generation goals using this technology.

    Moreover, enterprises have yet to accept DRM systems as solutions that provide security throughout the life cycle of the digital content; be it in the form of a document or a music file. DRM vendors that operate in either the enterprise or media space or both need to create more awareness about the existence of this technology and market their benefits more proactively.

    DRM systems have garnered greater attention in the media industry than in the enterprise sector. Some end users consider DRM to be a hindrance to the entertainment sector. However, the success of the iPod and iTunes is an indicator of the change in consumer buying behavior. Users are gradually regarding DRM more as ‘enabler’ than a ‘disabler’ for accessing digital content.

    Aima adds, “Apart from the shift in perception, the need to comply with regulations such the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm Leach Bliley, and Sarbanes Oxley is also driving the market ahead.

    “Vertical markets such as financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, and energy are focusing on regulatory compliance, thus ensuring the steady uptake of DRM solutions.”

  • Myriad channel universe will require content delivery to many touch points

    Myriad channel universe will require content delivery to many touch points

    MUMBAI: Imagine a digital world where new broadband networks scale up the present 500 channel universe to one that is 500,000 or even five million strong.

    An indication of the sheer breadth of possibilities (some would say frightening) that the brave new digital future is throwing up for those in the broadcasting business.

    It was a point that was expanded on by Turner International Asia Pacific president Stephen Marcopoto, in one of today’s plenary sessions – Digital Entertainment living.

    Said Marcopoto, “In order to reach this new consumer model we need to produce and deliver content to as many of these gadgets and technological touch points as possible. More than 30 million hours of TV are produced each year but we face the end of appointment viewing as scheduled broadcast channels and distribution are displaced by a choice of millions of download and on-demand programs. The pressure on content providers to innovate is therefore greater than ever as consumption moves from passive viewing by a large mass audience to the active engagement of individual consumers.”

    One of the biggest challenges could be on advertising models, Marcopoto said. “In the world of mobisodes and iPod downloads, the revenue models risk being turned upside down. The argument to advertisers is that these ‘third screen’ platforms reach people who would not normally have watched the show on air in the first place, so the advertisers don’t lose consumption. But in reality it’s way too soon to know the true impact of this technology on revenue streams and distribution. The hope is that through making popular shows convenient and available at a fair price, content owners should be able to avoid the savagery the music industry suffered.”

    The next huge challenge the industry faces is in the changing economics of rights ownership. Marcopoto stressed the “absolutely fundamental need that digital rights management (DRM) is enforced. “We know the case for DRM – without a strong system in place to ensure only paying consumers can access media, piracy will continue to run rampant and cut drastically into profits for producers and distributors. And, with declining sales, creative input will also drop and the overall quality of media produce risks decline. But potential solutions are out there and closed network providers like Kontiki have developed deals with players like AOL to deliver DRM protected content efficiently, with no more risk to piracy than a normal download,” he opined.

    Marcopoto finished his presentation with a quote from Mark Pesce, the head of Future STR, a consultancy based in Sydney. “The ‘Three Fs’ of finding, filtering and forwarding (content)—scaled up to the swarm of a billion internet users, describe the network media world. How the media industries of the present day—predicated on mass communication to mass audiences—negotiate the transition into a world of microaudiences, each fiercely guarded by an army of ever-vigilant nanoexperts, remains an open question.”