Standard digital delivery format determined
Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem's specs will streamline platforms
By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 1/4/2010
JAN. 4 | A consortium of Hollywood studios and major technology and consumer electronics companies have agreed on a standard format and digital delivery ecosystem for movies, a move aimed at enabling consumers to watch digitally delivered video content on a broad range of devices regardless of which retailer they purchase those digital downloads and rentals from.
Working together under the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, the consortium of 48 studios, technology and consumer hardware and software companies, announced today that they have agreed on an open format, dubbed Common File Format, chosen a vendor that will store consumer content on a digital locker and approved support for five digital rights management technologies.
DECE president Mitch Singer said today’s announcement shows that the DECE is making “rapid progress” toward “giving consumers the 'buy once, play anywhere’ experience they want,” which is expected to spur digital sales.
Currently, when consumers buy a digital movie download, it is only viewable on a limited number of devices. The DECE’s ecosystem is aimed at getting a broad number of consumer electronics companies, studios, retailers and other companies to support its format so consumers can buy digital content and access it anytime, anywhere for playback on any device that supports the DECE.
DECE’s Common File Format can be licensed to any company for use, similar to how DVD and Blu-ray operate. Digital content delivered in the Common File Format can be played on any device that supports the DECE-created format.
The format also will simplify the digital delivery process for content providers, who currently must reformat their content for each of the different digital movie services they offer their films through. Using Common File, content providers will only have to encode and encrypt their content for portable, standard-definition and high-definition for all services that adopt the DECE format. The DECE will provide full technical specifications in the first half of the year.
Companies also have approved five DRM technologies that content owners can choose from to protect their content. The approved DRMs are Adobe Flash Access, CMLA-OMA V2, The Marlin DRM Open Standard, Microsoft PlayReady and Widevine.
The DECE said it will employ Neustar Inc. to operate a digital rights locker, a cloud-based service that will allow consumers to access digital content they buy or rent on devices supporting the DECE ecosystem. The digital locker will operate as both an authentication service, ensuring consumers have the rights to view content on selected devices, and an account management hub for consumers.
The DECE will create an API (application programming interface) so digital retailers can integrate the digital rights locker into their service online. Consumers will have access to content they buy from any retailer taking part in the DECE system through the locker. Currently, services such as Amazon Video On Demand offer a digital locker, but consumers can only access content bought through Amazon.
The DECE’s announcement comes as The Walt Disney Co. shows off its alternative Keychest technology to other studios and digital companies. Disney has yet to announce details of Keychest, which it has said would store movie and TV content on a digital cloud so consumers can access content they own on a variety of devices after an authentication process.
Disney hasn’t said which companies will support Keychest at launch, but there’s nothing barring companies from supporting both Keychest and the DECE.
DECE has 48 member companies, including every major studio but Disney and entertainment and technology companies including Comcast and Microsoft. DECE said it added 21 new members last year, including Netflix, DivX, Cox Communications and Motorola.
