Irdeto Secures Shaanxi BC&TV Transition to Digital TV with Cloaked CA

Chinese-listed digital cable TV operator trials Irdeto’s Cloaked CA to transition two million subscribers from analogue to digital TV

BEIJING — Irdeto, a global software security and media technology company, today announced that Shaanxi Broadcast & TV Network Intermediary Company, Ltd. (Shaanxi BC&TV), a Shanghai-listed digital cable TV network operator, is starting trials of Irdeto’s Cloaked CA, a conditional access technology that is part of a strategy to transition over two million subscribers from analogue to digital services in the most secure and cost-effective way possible.

Irdeto’s Cloaked CA is a fully renewable, card-less conditional access solution that enables pay-TV operators on any network to offer premium high definition content without the logistical costs of deploying and swapping physical smart cards. This innovative software-based approach has a demonstrated potential to save up to 50% on the total cost of ownership of a smart card-based CA system.

“Irdeto’s Cloaked CA offers excellent compatibility with legacy systems and outstanding content security for our rapidly expanding portfolio of digital services, which we provide to consumers at competitive prices,” said Xie Jiangang, vice general manager of Shaanxi BC&TV. “We feel like Irdeto’s security technology truly sets a new industry standard. The company was able to offer us a state-of-the-art software-based conditional access technology that met and exceeded our expectations in terms of security and long-term cost.”

The move by Shaanxi BC&TV to trial the Cloaked CA is a result of State Council directives and is in full cooperation with the Shaanxi Provincial Government’s transition from analogue to digital TV services for three million county-level subscribers in 2010. This transition will be further expanded to 11 cities and regions for four million subscribers’ cable TV systems in 2014. Digitalization on this scale requires cost-effective solutions like Cloaked CA to ensure its success. Irdeto’s Cloaked CA is also the first one-way broadcast CA client to gain wide familiarity and trust from Hollywood studios, and has been extensively audited by respected industry experts like T-Systems Germany and Farncombe Technology Ltd.

Bengt Jonsson, Irdeto’s vice president of sales, Asia-Pacific, said: “Irdeto is delighted that Shaanxi BC & TV has recognized that Cloaked CA software security is ideal for the digitization of tier two and tier three cities, due to the unrivalled total cost of ownership and ease of use for both the individual subscriber and the operator.”