http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6440876.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228
NCTA: HBO's Zitter Says DRM Is Misnomer
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/9/2007 12:04:00 PM
Digital rights management (DRM) is the wrong term for technology that
secures programmers' content as it moves to new digital platforms
says HBO Chief Technology Officer Bob Zitter, since it emphasized
restrictions instead of opportunities.
Speaking at a panel session at the NCTA show in Las Vegas Tuesday,
Zitter suggested that "DCE," or Digital Consumer Enablement, would
more accurately describe technology that allows consumers "to use
content in ways they haven't before," such as enjoying TV shows and
movies on portable video players like iPods.
"I don't want to use the term DRM any longer," said Zitter, who added
that content-protection technology could enable various new
applications for cable operators. One example could be "burn-to-own
DVDs," where a consumer would use a set-top box with a built-in DVD
burner to record a movie onto an optical disc, thus eliminating the
costly current process of pressing DVDs and distributing them
physically at retail. Another possibility, says Zitter, is "early
window exhibition," either in the form of making a movie available
through video-on-demand (VOD) the same day as the home video release
or allowing home theater users to pay extra to see a high-definition
version of a theatrical release in the comfort of their home.
A lack of copy protection is holding HBO back from making its own
content available in high-definition through its popular HBO On
Demand platform, he said.
Speaking privately after the panel session, Zitter said that HBO had
the technology in place to roll out HBO On Demand in HD and has
received strong interest from operators in such a service; he noted
that HBO has already tested the technology with Comcast for content
like The Sopranos on HBO On Demand and the Star Wars movies on
Cinemax On Demand. But the fact that current high-definition set-tops
still output unencrypted analog video through their component video
outputs-a problem known as the "analog hole"---makes it too much of a
piracy risk to widely offer high-definition HBO content on-demand
today.
Newer HD set-tops that have a digital output with digital copy
protection, such as DVI or HDMI, could allow HBO viewers to enjoy HD
content on-demand while protecting HBO's economic interest. But most
viewers with such set-tops are still using their analog outputs and
component video cables, which cost less than HDMI cables, to connect
them to their HD sets.
Theoretically, says Zitter, those analog outputs could be disabled,
forcing consumers to use a secure digital connection to watch HD
content. But current FCC rules don't give HBO or cable operators that
power, in order to protect consumers who bought early HDTV sets that
don't support digital copy protection.
"They say we can't turn off the analog output," Zitter notes.
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