Pay-TV losing patience with conditional access systems

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Pay-TV operators are currently at a breaking point with high levels of piracy, according to a new report from independent analyst Datamonitor.

The report, Anti-piracy measures in digital and interactive TV, asserts that unless conditional access (CA) vendors can provide strong enough encryption and authentication solutions, they could find themselves out in the cold as, contrary to popular belief, CA vendors ties with pay-TV operators are not made for life. Pay-TV operators, now more than ever, are prepared to dispose of them - despite the high costs or technical problems this could involve, and seek better solutions elsewhere.

To date, Datamonitor claims, piracy has been a major problem for the digital TV industry, seriously holding back the development of some markets. Breaches have been costly. When the Canal Plus Technologies MediaGuard solution was cracked, Canal+ Technologies who provided the solution was forced to swap-out 6.5 million smart cards in areas where piracy was highest, namely Spain, Poland and Italy. Indeed in Italy, at one time there are thought to have been more 'illegal' viewers of the digital satellite services than there were actual subscribers.

Relationships between pay-TV operators and CA vendors are normally ongoing and long term, due to the continual threat of piracy and the addition of new services to the pay-TV platform, normally only ending as a result of mergers or major service problems.