Widevine Snags Canadian Telco Deal
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/13/2006 6:23:00 PM
Content protection firm Widevine Technologies has signed a six-year deal with Canadian telecommunications provider TELUS to provide its video content protection technology across TELUS' broadband, IPTV and mobile platforms.
TELUS will use Widevine's Cypher software to protect content delivered to set-tops and PCs via its broadband network, including downloadable multimedia content and TELUS TV, an IPTV broadcast and video-on-demand service, as well as content delivered to cellphones through its mobile TV offering. All three platforms will use the same digital copy protection solution.
"This is the first time a telco operator has purchased a single content protection platform, from VOD to broadcast content sent to the set-top box, as well as content to the PC and content to the mobile environment," says Widevine CEO Brian Baker.
The Telus deal is worth roughly $5 million to Widevine over the next two years, says Baker, and could be worth over $30 million in total. The Widevine software is already deployed in parts of TELUS, which has around 11 million customers between its wireline and wireless networks, and will roll out more broadly in the next two months.
