Open Platform Initiative for Multimedia Access

Forty individuals from 13 countries and 30 companies, with a wide represention of stakeholders in Digital Television, convened in Turin, Italy on 5 and 6 March 1998 to discuss a proposal to accelerate the deployment of digital television by defining an Open Platform for Multimedia Access. Participants agreed to the following resolutions.

1. A definition of Open Platform for Multimedia Access is "A system where the consumer is able to obtain a receiver and begin to consume and pay for services, without having prior knowledge which services would be consumed, in a simple way such as by operating a remote control device. To enable a greater selection of content to the consumer the platform should guarantee content providers' interests through secure content management and protection". The following figure clarifies the idea

CMP = Content Management and Protection

2. It is recognised that the existence of such a platform would maximise the willingness of end users to consume content. This in turn would maximise content provisioning and globally enhance the role of actors in the delivery chain.

3. There has been consensus that the goal is approachable and possibly even reachable by drawing on some of the technologies listed below:

• Common general purpose platform involving common packaging, common rights expression, service infrastructure, transaction authority framework, trusted virtual machine
• Unencumbered distribution and rights assurance system (slogan: you play, you pay)
• As for SIM cards in GSM
• A common scrambling algorithm + Simulcrypt
• Common Interface + Multicrypt
• Multicrypt based on smart card on CA1 (API required)
• Content Management and Protection API

4. The solution eventually identified must be commercially viable and must be acceptable to the essential players in the chain whose interests are impacted by any such specification.

5. The relationships with electronic commerce are to be clarified

6. The initiative may also consider

• Management
• Protection and
• Commercialisation

of content and intellectual property in the digital domain as seen from the content producer and consumer perspective.

7. The main goal of the initiative is to provide specifications that will enable the realisation of the Open Platform for Multimedia Access as defined above

8. The following is a possible workplan for the initiative

9. The meeting is aware that related activities are being carried out in other bodies, particularly DAVIC and MPEG at the international level, even though apparently no one is targeting an Open Platform for Multimedia Access as defined above. There is a serious need to review the situation at the earliest possible occasion for the purpose of creating conditions for maximum synergy.

10. These resolutions and the list of participants will be posted on the WWW for the purpose of informing other people potentially interested in the initiative.

11. Paul Shen will kindly set up a newsgroup and Massimo Balestri will set up a reflector to further technical discussions

12. CSELT is warmly thanked for hosting this meeting.