NAGRA and Samsung to create a corporate body to license the new TVkey technology

• TVkey allows consumers to enjoy pay-TV services directly on TV sets using a simple USB dongle
• NAGRA and Samsung agreed to establish a new co-venture to license TVkey technology to industry stakeholders including chipset, dongle, TV and conditional access vendors
• TVkey offers the quickest and lowest-cost route to market for 4K services while meeting stringent Hollywood requirements for Enhanced Content Protection

Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A., 04-Jan-2017 — /EuropaWire/ — NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company, and the world’s leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, with Samsung Electronics, the market leader in home entertainment for over ten years, today announced they will create a corporate body to license the new TVkey technology – announced at IBC 2016 – to industry stakeholders. The new body will enable open market access to the solution by licensing TVkey technology to third-party chipset, TV, dongle and conditional access (CAS) vendors.

TVkey allows consumers to sign up for pay-TV services directly on select new Samsung TVs, while meeting stringent MovieLabs requirements for Enhanced Content Protection such as 4K and HDR. It offers the quickest and lowest-cost route to market for 4K services without requiring additional pay-TV operator investment in set-top boxes. TVkey licensing terms and technical specifications are expected to be available to interested partners by mid-2017.

“We are excited to expand TVkey technology access to a wider ecosystem of industry players. It will ultimately help provide a faster route-to-market of 4K services for pay-TV operators and the 4K value chain as a whole,” said JongHee Han, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “By opening access to the technology, we are committed to establishing TVkey as the de facto standard for access to premium pay services directly on TV sets.”

“TVkey gives global pay-TV operators the chance to create new and profitable business models by being fully in control of the user experience whilst reducing subscriber acquisition costs for premium services and eliminating the requirement for a dedicated set-top box,” said Maurice van Riek, Head of Content and Asset Security, NAGRA. “This reduced cost of sales and simplified sign-up process enables operators to compete more effectively against online video providers.”

The TVkey framework is based on a NAGRA-designed root of trust in TV chips that communicates securely with the TVkey device. This creates a Secure Media Path and enables strict enforcement of usage rules as required by Hollywood for the protection of high-value content. TVkey also provides a platform for hardware-based watermarking and tools for service access control. NAGRA and Samsung are already engaging with interested parties in advance of establishing the licensing body to prepare the required IP block, hardware root of trust and trusted execution environment (TEE)/SMP integrations and USB support in order to accelerate the time-to-market for TVkey-enabled TVs.

Leading pay-TV operators are expected to launch TVkey-based services in 2017. For more information on TVkey or to express interest in licensing the specification, please visit www.tvkey.com.

About NAGRA
NAGRA, a digital TV division of the Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S), provides security and multiscreen user experience solutions for the monetization of digital media. The company provides content providers and DTV operators worldwide with secure, open and integrated platforms and applications over broadcast, broadband and mobile platforms, enabling compelling and personalized viewing experiences. Please visit dtv.nagra.com for more information and follow us on Twitter at @nagrakudelski.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems, and semiconductor and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at news.samsung.com.

SOURCE: KUDELSKI SA

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