CI Plus 2.0 the future for content protection or a standard that is too late to the party? What is it? Common Interface Plus (CI Plus) or just Common Interface (CI) as it originally was, has been around for over a decade as a means to ofer platform independent content protection for broadcast TV. On paper the standard is ideal from a consumer’s perspective, allowing Figure 1: PCMCIA CI Plus CAM module in a you to buy an offthefshelf TV or STB TV. and then buy the CAM (Conditional To encourage Operator adoption of Access Module) for the particular CI Plus, the standard ofered a Operator’s service that you want to means for Operators to present their access. If you want to change own branded interface and content Operator service, there’s no need to discovery portal. The technology get a new TV or STB, just change the that enabled this was a CAM resident CAM. Over time, the standard has application which would be signalled evolved to meet the changing as available when a user navigated requirements for protecting frst SD to one of the Operator’s channels. TV transmissions (CI), then HD (CI The user could then choose to Plus), and more recently 4K content launch it, similar to a red button (CI Plus ECP). The standard has also interactive broadcast application. widened its scope beyond traditional The CI Plus CAMs also provided a broadcast delivered TV, enabling the mechanism whereby IP services CAM to be used to descramble IP could be delivered to legacy devices, delivered content as well. with the CAMs having direct network connections and being able to receive and decode the IP content directly and transform it into a format a legacy TV or STB could buy through standard retail present. channels, and all the Operator had to do was make sure CAMs were available for its service. Part of the reason was that STB vendors weren’t keen to adopt the PCMCIA form factor CAM modules, as they were an expensive interface which eroded their margins. TV Figure 2: SmartDTV WiFi enabled CAM for manufacturers had little choice as Mediaset Premium. legislation was passed in Europe that compelled TV manufacturers to So, the CI Plus a wonderful thing for adopt the standard for all of their both consumers and Operators, but products. A knockfon efect of this if CI Plus is so great, why isn’t it legislation, was that TV dominating the market for content manufacturers required diferent protection? Why, despite being in variants of their chassis for Europe almost every TV in Europe, aren’t all vs the rest of the world, which was Operators using it and why don’t far from ideal in the manufacturers more STB manufacturers look to eyes, but at least it was a level adopt it? playing feld with all manufacturers Why isn’t it more widely have to comply. used? Even though every new TV, in Well, there are several reasons why Europe at least, would have a CI Plus everyone isn’t using CI Plus today. interface, Operators still resisted the Firstly, the PayTV market has temptation to ditch their STBs. historically been STB based, as it Although CI Plus enabled an provides Operators with a platform Operator to deliver an encrypted with which they can completely service direct to a TV, it didn’t control the end user experience and enable an Operator to control the roll out new features to attract new end user experience. Yes, CI plus had subscribers. Yet, this comes at a the concept of CAM resident price of the STB hardware and applications, but these only allowed software, having to manage the the Operator to tweak the look ‘n’ installation process, returns, feel of the interface when a user customer support etc, So, why did browsed to their channels. It didn’t Operators not leap at the chance to help that until relatively recently the adopt CI Plus. CI Plus would mean CAM resident Apps were MHEG that they could use any offthefshelf based, which are tricky to author, STB or TV which the consumer would and don’t provide a huge scope for the Operator to truly diferentiate. weren’t able to support such a The move to HbbTV based CAM feature directly, and the only option resident Apps does improve things, for Operators looking to ofer DVR but the Operator is still limited in capabilities to their subscribers was what they can do to control the end an STB. platform. Indeed, this is a topic The plight of CI/CI Plus with within HbbTV who are introducing Operators was exacerbated by the new OppApp (Operator Application) fact that, by its very nature, is an extensions to enabled Operators to open standard. New features have to have more control over the end user be agreed by all contributing experience. partners before they can be adopted, which takes time, sometimes a long time. It’s then harder for an Operator to be frst to market with a new compelling feature that is going to attract subscribers. Returning to the DVR example; DVR was only standardised in CI Plus in version 1.4 of the standard, where CAMs were specifed to be able to handle multiple streams for record and playback. Before then, anyone wanting to use CI/CI plus on a DVR would require separate CAMs for watching one stream while recording another, which was expensive and hard to explain to the consumer. During the early days of the CI/CI Plus standard, another infuence on its uptake was the fact that the Figure 3: CAM Resident App Pay Per View majority of the proprietary Example. Only limited control over the Conditional Access (CA) companies end-user experience is available. also had their own middleware oferings; Nagra had two biggest. As well as ofering the content In addition, if you wind back the protection, they also ofered the clock to the earlier days of CI/CI Plus, middleware to enable the advanced DVR was the new feature that features that use it, such as DVR. As everyone wanted. At the time TVs such, the CA vendors ofered a more Europe, but also as far afeld as India complete package that enabled and Uzbekistan. Uptake in Europe Operators to bring new features to comes from users having access to a market quicker and help drive range of overlapping PayTV services subscriber uptake. via satellite, and there being market demand for a swappable solution The last reason why Operators didn’t such as CI Plus. So, it’s not that CI fock to CI Plus as a means of Plus hasn’t been a success, it’s just protecting their premium services that it hasn’t lived up to its full was security. The original CI potential with it still being avoided standard, which admittedly was only by the larger Operators. designed to protect SD content, once the CAM decrypted the content, it CI Plus 2.0 transmitted it infthefclear to the So, what is CI Plus 2.0 and will it MPEG Soc for decode and display. improve on the fortunes of CI/CI Plus. The CA vendors were able to Firstly, CI Plus 2.0 is not new, the capitalise on such weaknesses when standard was published in 2015/16 dealing with Operators and Content by the DVB, but it hasn’t yet been Owners. As CI evolved into CI Plus, ratifed by the CI Plus Limited and HD content was introduced, Liability Partnership (LLP). This such weaknesses were corrected, means that the standard could but the CA vendors remained one technically still change, and step ahead introducing more secure, manufacturers have therefore been and “better” solutions. Furthermore, reluctant to adopt it. However, over the CA vendors were the ones that the past 12 months the picture has shouldered the liability should their started to change, and the cause of solution be hacked. In the case of that change we’ll come to in a CI/CI Plus the onus is on the device minute. manufacturer, which in the case of a Before that, back to CI Plus 2.0, and major ‘A’ brand may provide some what is it? Well the most signifcant reassurance to content owners, but development is the move away from they may be less willing to entrust the PCMCIA form factor to a USB their premium content to smaller, based form factor. USB is now nofname, TV/STB manufacturers, standard on all TVs and STBs, and it even if the solution has to be removes the need for large (read formerly certifed. expensive) PCMCIA connectors. This Accordingly, most of the big also enables TV manufacturers to Operators stay wedded to their have a truly global chassis, rather STBs. However, CI/CI Plus has had than having to have dedicated success, mainly with small to midf European sets, and reduces the cost sized Operators largely across barrier for STB manufacturers looking to adopt CI Plus 2.0. So good in response to Nagra’s TV Key ™ news all round. initiative. Figure 5: Nagra's TVKey™ USB CAM.. TV Key™ is essentially a USB form Figure 4: USB form factor CAM factor CAM, but rather than being based on open standards it uses UHD Content Protection proprietary Nagra technology within In addition to the physical changes, the CAM, paired with a Nagra CI Plus 2.0 also incorporates hardware root of trust embedded in additional security enhancements for the MPEG Soc. Mstar and Novatek 4K UHD content. These security have partnered with Nagra to deliver enhancements have also been the frst TV MPEG SoCs to support TV added to the conventional CI Plus 1.4 Key, and Samsung is the frst TV standard as the Enhanced Content manufacturer to demonstrate a Protection (ECP) specifcation compliant TV.