by: Alain Thys
One of the biggest reasons why broadcasters don't throw all of the programming they buy online, is the complaint that producers don't allow the use of their content unless the broadcaster can guarantee that the programme is only watched in it's designated territory. This cannot be done on the internet. Or can it ?
Come to think of it, premium sattelite TV, which has a similar difficulty to delineate viewership by geographic borders has solved this problem years ago. If you buy your SkyTV or other premium channel, you get a little set-top box which typically contains a card or chip that allows you to decode the transmissions you receive. As many Sky viewers outside the UK can testify, this little chip doesn't really care "where" you sit, as long as you've paid for the privilege to watch. As a result, the sattelite channel in turn can guarantee the production house the programme cannot be watched beyond it's designated audience, so everyone is happy.
Online this can work in exactly the same way, by using digital certificates in which broadcasters simply give, sell, what-ever digital tokens allowing surfers in their region to identify themselves online in an undisputable way. These tokens can even be used to decrypt broadcasting signals which effectively ensure that no one can watch the programming put online without the key. Anyone who is naughty simply gets his key revoked.
And considering we're not really talking about "fancy" digital certificates or DRM systems, the actual deployment should be quite affordable.
Commercial broadcasters who take this approach to "carpet bomb" their geographic terrain not only create a digital media opportunity beyond their wildest dreams, yet also build up quite an interesting wall against GoogleWood, iTunes and the likes who are aiming to disintermediate them. After all, most consumers won't want to have fifteen of these certificates so it's going to be first come first served (in which the best content wins … hey just like TV).
And even if Google Video takes over TV-broadcasting, having a captive audience of a few million certified viewers at least makes room for a very nice acquisition value …
Original Post: http://alainthys.blogging.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/20/1773384.html
