The HbbTV Association has announced a significant advancement in HbbTV technology with a new specification for integrating Digital Rights Management (DRM). This standardization, approved by the HbbTV Steering Group, will greatly improve the secure delivery of premium content via HbbTV-based services.
The specification addresses a long-standing issue: the previously ad-hoc nature of DRM integration in HbbTV. Different countries and markets implemented DRM independently, lacking a harmonized approach. This new specification establishes a predictable and reliable method for using DRM, particularly crucial for applications with the complexity and security needs of Video-on-Demand (VOD) platforms.
“Over the past few years, we have observed that advanced HbbTV services often ran into technical challenges due to incomplete integration between HbbTV and DRM, even though most connected TVs already supported DRM at the device level,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association. “This new specification provides predictability and reliability for the proper functioning of HbbTV applications in association with DRM, enabling our ecosystem to meet growing usage and more sophisticated HbbTV applications delivering advanced TV services.”
This new specification formally integrates widely used DRM systems, such as Microsoft PlayReady and Google Widevine, into the HbbTV framework. It leverages experience gained from the HbbTV’s DASH-DRM Reference Application, already adopted by numerous broadcasters and platform operators.
To ensure broad adoption, the HbbTV Association is collaborating with key hybrid TV platforms like tivù (Italy) and Everyone TV (UK), as well as Google. These partnerships will integrate existing national-level and private DRM unit tests into the HbbTV Conformance Test Suite, guaranteeing consistent implementation across devices and markets. The specification is available on the HbbTV website and is anticipated for adoption in upcoming product cycles.