castLabs announces its collaboration with Telia replacing their traditional CAS with Widevine CAS

BERLIN, Feb. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- An existing castLabs' DRMtoday customer using its leading multi-DRM licensing (built on scalable multi-region Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure), for the Norwegian Telia Play OTT service, Telia has now extended the partnership and will replace the traditional CAS (Conditional Access Systems) on its IPTV network with castLabs' Widevine CAS managed service. 

CAS have been the required technology to secure content distributed in broadcast or multicast networks - traditional CAS, however, is not easy to maintain due to its specific legacy infrastructure, reliance on proprietary technologies, and high costs. Widevine CAS is the ideal solution to meet these challenges as it doesn't require any proprietary set-top box middleware or device royalties and supports app-based implementation. As a cloud-based solution, it is easy to maintain yet provides the same high level of security as traditional CAS solutions.

Widevine selected castLabs as a principal partner for their Widevine CAS Third Party Labs (3PL) program which means that they are authorized to provide solutions, support, and ongoing technical expertise for operators of any size. As a satisfied castLabs' customer for many years, it was then an obvious choice for Telia to choose castLabs as its Widevine CAS provider.

Telia's OTT service includes various TV channels from a number of popular broadcasters such as Discovery Networks Europe, MTV Networks Europe, and Eurosport. Telia Digital TV also offers VOD services from Disney Channel, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet, among others.

In the first phase of deployments, Telia, with the support of castLabs' technical expertise, has migrated its current CAS system, enabling license deliveries and Android TV devices to support Widevine CAS. This has also enabled advanced use-cases such as group licensing, key rotation, and renewals for optimized license delivery, lower channel change latency, and improved security. 

Telia chose to deploy Synamedia's virtual Digital Content Manager (vDCM) headend featuring a DVB SimulCrypt-enabled scrambler integrated with castLabs' Widevine CAS ECM Generator, and vDCM packager integrated with castLabs' DRMtoday multi-DRM for hybrid system support.

"castLabs' solution has fitted into our product strategy since 2016 when we started our first OTT project. Now the collaboration has extended even further and its product and expertise have been proven to effectively support our TV service content security strategy," says Stein Ivar Nilsen, Video Acquisition & Distribution Manager at Telia. "The flexibility and extension of castLabs' DRMtoday cloud service and its professional services allowed us to converge our PayTV CAS, and OTT DRM requirements into one single solution. castLabs provided us strong support and confidence during the whole Widevine CAS migration process."

Visit castlabs.com to learn more about their Widevine CAS solutions including reducing set-top box integration costs, speeding up time to market, and enabling OTT/DVB/IPTV secure hybrid players. 

About castLabs

castLabs is a leading pioneer of software and cloud services for digital video markets worldwide to easily enable premium content streaming. Their range of applications and services are designed to help businesses deliver high-quality video experiences through protected content playback over a large selection of devices and platforms. castLabs solutions include DRMtoday multi-DRM and CAS licensing, feature-rich PRESTOplay cross-platform players, Video Toolkit cloud encoding and watermarking, Widevine device and app certification, secure WebRTC end-to-end delivery, as well as expert technical consulting. Learn more at castlabs.com.

About Telia

Telia is the telecommunications leader in the Nordic and Baltic region serving over 25 million customers with digital infrastructure and digital services. It also owns a TV-media operation including TV4 in Sweden and MTV in Finland. Founded in 1853, they are digitalizing society connecting individuals, families, businesses and communities. 

About Synamedia

We're trusted by service providers and content owners to protect, enrich, and deliver video. The flexibility and agility of our cloud products enable customers of all types and sizes to launch, monetise, and scale services at speed. Our award-winning portfolio includes intelligence-led anti-piracy, advanced advertising, business analytics, broadband and streaming video platforms, and video network cloud and software solutions. Synamedia is backed by the Permira funds and Sky. 

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SOURCE castLabs GmbH