Irdeto announced its acquisition of BD+ content protection technology for Blu-ray Disc (BD) from Rovi Corporation.
According a Rovi spokesperson, the company is selling BD+ “for cash consideration of up to $25 million based on the achievements of certain milestones. As the company has transformed into a provider of solutions that enable digital entertainment, the BD+ assets no longer fit tightly with our strategic alignment. We are not disclosing any additional detail on the transaction at this time.”
As a matter of background, BD+ was originally developed by Cryptography Research, which sold the security technology to Rovi (then Macrovision) in Nov. 2007 for $45 million in cash plus stock warrants.
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Unedited press release follows:
Irdeto Acquires Rovi Corporation’s BD+ Technology for Blu-ray
Acquisition Pushes Dynamic Security into the Spotlight, Positions Irdeto as Key Partner to Hollywood Studios
HOLLYWOOD, Calif.–Irdeto, a global software security and media technology company, today announced the acquisition of BD+ technology for Blu-ray from Rovi Corporation. The newly acquired BD+ technology will fold into the company’s Irdeto ActiveCloak™ for Media offering, giving Hollywood studios a more robust solution for protecting high-value Blu-ray movie titles from the threat of digital piracy and lost revenues. This deal marks the next phase of a dedicated effort by Irdeto to combat entertainment piracy across online, broadcast and physical media distribution channels.
“This acquisition further proves our commitment to establishing dynamic security as the industry standard for Hollywood studios taking advantage of the Media 3.0 opportunity – consumer demand for content anywhere, on any device and at any time,” said Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto. “We are working closely with the studio community to ensure movie titles released on Blu-ray disc have the same rigorous protection standards we created for Irdeto ActiveCloak for Media. This is the beginning of a new era of software security, and one that is certainly welcome for companies whose livelihood depends on digital entertainment.”
In his recent inaugural speech, Chris Dodd, president of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), underscored the severity of the situation by stating piracy is the “single biggest threat we face as an industry.” To address that urgent need to protect high-value entertainment assets, Irdeto launched ActiveCloak for Media in February 2011, the first and only dynamic security solution to protect and monetize high-value digital entertainment assets throughout their entire lifecycle. By integrating BD+ intellectual property, contracts and patent licenses into its current offering, Irdeto customers will be able to implement more robust security measures for Blu-ray than the current Advanced Access Content System (AACS), which has suffered from a history of security breaches and hacks.
Added Yoav Schreiber, senior analyst at Current Analysis: “Enhancing the protection of Blu-ray content is a linchpin to extending the release windows for movie titles on physical media formats. With premium VOD and online content distribution encroaching on established physical distribution models, this agreement should bolster the movie industry’s Blu-ray business model by adding Irdeto’s dynamic security to BD+ technology.”
The BD+ standard is based on the Self-Protecting Digital Content (SPDC) architecture, a renewable security concept that complements Irdeto’s dynamic security technology. Irdeto will enhance the effectiveness of BD+ by creating a hybrid BD+/ActiveCloak content security system that will monitor and address threats throughout each Blu-ray disc’s economic life. The hybrid BD+/ActiveCloak security mechanisms can be reconfigured and renewed for each movie title to prevent loss of platform integrity over time, minimizing the risk that revenue from high-value movie content will be lost.
Irdeto ActiveCloak for Media is already a critical part of the security framework for major global cable operators and several OTT service providers.
About Irdeto
Irdeto is the most innovative software security and media technology company in the world. Through its dynamic security and monetization technologies, the company allows new forms of distribution for broadcast/broadband/mobile entertainment, and for the world’s most popular app, eStores and consumer devices. Co-headquartered in Amsterdam and Beijing, Irdeto employs 1000 people in 25 locations around the world. It is a subsidiary of broad-based media group Naspers (JSE: NPN). Please visit Irdeto at www.irdeto.com.