MobiTV Offers Standalone Licensable Network DVR to Service Providers

Thursday, July 19th, 2012
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MobiTV’s innovative network DVR (nDVR) will be released as a standalone licensable solution to service providers

EMERYVILLE, Calif. — MobiTV, a global leader in enabling delivery of live and on-demand TV Everywhere, announced today that its innovative network DVR (nDVR) will be released as a standalone licensable solution to service providers. The MobiTV nDVR successfully navigates complex rights management across countries by efficiently configuring for any of the governing international rules. Available to cable television service providers, wireless carriers and other network operators, MobiTV’s nDVR was developed and, previously, exclusively available only as an element of MobiTV’s end-to-end multiscreen platform.

Network DVR allows viewers to record and store television content in the cloud, rather than on a DVR box in their home. As a result, consumers can record an unlimited number of programs at any time and retrieve them anywhere, inside or outside the home, on connected devices.

For example, instead of investing in costly set-top boxes for subscribers, service providers can send them a “thin” box that requires only an Internet connection and HDMI cable to interface with the cloud-hosted nDVR system. Moreover, since nDVR does not store programming on the device in the home, it untethers consumers so that they may watch the content anytime, anywhere.

MobiTV has uniquely implemented several modes for recording and storage to accommodate user and content rights for geographies around the world:

  • Master copies – Constant recording of a single, cloud-based master copy of all channels offered by a service provider that can be accessed by consumers. This configuration does not require the viewer to initiate recordings and, in effect, offers “catch-up TV” and video-on-demand for any program across multiple authorized devices, since all channels are continuously recorded.
  • Personal copies – Individual programs are written to a cloud-based storage area for the individual subscriber, with a pre-designated configurable amount of available storage. When combined with MobiTV’s DRM solution, personal copies are secured, fully cacheable and support scalable and efficient delivery.

MobiTV’s patent-pending technology has been developed for efficient, scalable storage and distribution that extends beyond the write limitations of a single storage system. As such, it’s able to handle the Terabytes of data-per-second required to support mass-market deployments using standard off-the-shelf storage and server equipment. This incomparable offering allows for organic scaling that can efficiently span multiple geographical points.

“Rights management has long been a difficult process for service operators to navigate on an international scale,” said MobiTV CEO Charlie Nooney. “The MobiTV nDVR removes barriers for operators and provides the solution for a true TV Everywhere experience.”

Current international digital rights management for cloud-based DVR systems is a complex set of rules. The MobiTV nDVR is a policies-based system that enables network operators to honor restricted digital rights requirements, permitting recording inside or outside the home as the rights allow. As rules governing rights management are fluid, the “future-proof” technology within MobiTV nDVR seamlessly shifts policies to comply with new rules instead of needing to deploy new solutions. The licensable solution thus enables service providers the ability to deliver TV and video across countries and rights management obstacles.