QuickPlay Announces 'Mobile Set-Top Box' for TV Service Providers

Innovative Solution Includes Complete Authentication/Authorization & DRM Capabilities Enabling Service Providers to Offer Customers Personalized, Portable Entertainment

TORONTO — QuickPlay Media, the premier provider of solutions that manage the business of mobile video, today unveiled its new Mobile Set-Top Box solution. The solution will enable TV service providers to easily extend set-top box capabilities beyond the living room to popular consumer electronic and mobile devices. This seamless integration will allow subscribers to experience portable entertainment in its most flexible form, providing the access, control and personalization of premium programming to which they’re accustomed.

“As we have seen with our award winning PrimeTime2Go service, consumers are eager to take their entertainment experience beyond the confines of their living rooms. With the Mobile Set-Top Box solution, we enable service providers to extend the value of their premium programming by making it available to subscribers anywhere they may go, complete with all of the capabilities they’ve come to count on from their set-top boxes,” said Wayne Purboo, president and CEO, QuickPlay Media. “At the same time, we allow providers to retain control of their content while managing specific business rules and entitlements across multiple devices. Until now, this cross-device management capability had been the missing link preventing the promise of truly portable entertainment from becoming a reality.”

QuickPlay’s Mobile Set-Top Box solution is available to Cable MSO and IPTV providers looking for ways to deepen and enrich their customer relationships. By extending their current services, including user authentication requirements and business rules, these providers can become a ubiquitous presence in their subscribers’ daily lives. The Mobile Set-Top Box functionality allows viewers to access content previously restricted to their cable set-top boxes and enjoy it anywhere, anytime on all types of consumer electronics and mobile devices.

The solution delivers a variety of innovative features that make it easy for service providers to ensure the optimum user experience across multiple devices, without sacrificing content protection. Features include:

• Digital Rights Management (DRM) Protection with Content Expiry: Ensures content rights are extended securely to mobile device platforms, enabling a number of VOD entitlement models such as rentals and subscriptions.
• DVR Capabilities: Enables consumers to set the device of their choice to automatically download their favorite programs. Additionally, subscribers can pause programs and return to them later or, in the case of an incoming call, have the service pause automatically and resume when the call is finished.
• Geographic and Entitlement Access Control: Ensures that content can be accessed only by approved customers within specified regions.
• Smart Download Technology: Allows content to be delivered to a device during periods of intermittent network availability to make sure that customers can always access their favorite shows.
• Multiple Network Transfer Support: Provides options for users to access and download content over Wi-Fi, high-speed cellular networks and via sideloading.
• Advanced Device Management – Storage, Memory and Battery: Detects and alerts customers when their device storage, memory or battery is low, allowing them to manage their device and settings accordingly.
• Cross-Device Quality: Lets users enjoy the same high-quality entertainment experience regardless of where or how they choose to view the content on their mobile device.
• Multiple Viewing Options: Offers customers multiple viewing options including live TV, video-on-demand (VOD) and automatic content downloading.

“Cable companies and MSOs have long sought to extend their programming in ways that that will strengthen loyalty and drive greater value for their subscribers. The ability to extend their controls and reach to mobile devices has been hindered by technical hurdles to date,” said Scott Ellison, vice president, mobile and wireless, IDC. “The upcoming release of QuickPlay’s Mobile Set-Top Box solution is a compelling way for these companies to turn the marketing vision of anywhere entertainment into consumer reality.”

QuickPlay’s Mobile Set-Top Box solution will be available for demonstration at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment convention in San Diego, October 7-9, 2009.