Cinea, Inc., a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB), today announced an Enhanced Revenue Protection extension to its Running Marks™ watermarking product to combat illegal rebroadcast and/or commercial misuse of broadcast content.
System operators lose tens of millions of dollars annually to the illegal use of their broadcast content. The Running Marks Enhanced Revenue Protection extension enables the discreet display of the set-top box identifier (STB ID), known as Perceptible ID, on the video display. The new application feature enables field inspectors to quickly identify pirated signals and strengthens system operator abilities to shut down the sources of these pirated signals.
The Running Marks Enhanced Revenue Protection extension is designed to respond to the following threats:
1. Commercial misuse: A commercial venue (such as a pub, bar, or restaurant) uses a residential subscription, rather than a commercial subscription, to access and publicly display premium sports content. The residential subscription is significantly less expensive than a commercial subscription, and as a result, system operators lose tens of millions of dollars in annual unrealized revenue.
2. Community or Internet rebroadcast: A legitimate user captures and rebroadcasts content illegally to nonsubscribing customers, which may number in the tens to thousands. This scenario is particularly prevalent in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and India but is a growing threat worldwide with the availability of high-speed bandwidth to transmit content via the Internet.
The Running Marks Enhanced Revenue Protection extension illustrates a key benefit available with the Running Marks technology core asymmetric architecture. Separating the complex image-analysis step from the simple message-insertion step enabled this new functionality. In addition, the Running Marks Inserter supports both Enhanced Revenue Protection marks as well as the established forensic marks, enabling system operators to deploy one or both types of marks within their system.
“The Running Marks Enhanced Revenue Protection extension allows system operators to directly impact their bottom line by ensuring that customers are paying what they should based on their usage,” said Rob Schumann, General Manager, Cinea. “The capabilities of the Running Marks Enhanced Revenue Protection extension meet the exacting needs of conditional access vendors and systems operators looking for advanced revenue protection tools.”
Cinea will be demonstrating its product at IBC2008 in Amsterdam, September 12–16, at the Dolby stand, 2.B28.
About Cinea
Cinea, Inc., a Dolby company, develops and commercializes a broad variety of content-protection solutions for the motion picture and television industries. Current customers include many of the major film studios as well as leading service vendors in the entertainment industry. For more information about Cinea, Inc., or Cinea® technologies, please visit www.cinea.com.
Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the performance, features, reliability, and capabilities of Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension; the potential benefits that systems operators and other users may derive from Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension; and the anticipated market acceptance of Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension, are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. The following important factors, without limitation, could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: risks that adoption of Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension may not occur as currently anticipated; risks that Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension may not perform as anticipated; risks associated with building market acceptance of and demand for Running Marks and the Enhanced Revenue Protection extension; competition risks for watermarking technology; rapid changes in technical requirements for antipiracy protection; and other risks detailed in Dolby's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including the risks identified under the section captioned "Risk Factors" in its most recent Periodic Report on Form 10-Q or 10-K. Dolby disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Cinea is a registered trademark of Cinea, Inc. Running Marks is a trademark of Cinea, Inc. S08/20425
Contacts:
Jessica Wolf, 323-933-3399 ext. 4202
jwolf@mprm.com
