NAGRA, a Kudelski Group company and independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, with Samsung Electronics have announced the launch of TVkey Cloud, the next generation Enhanced Content Protection for Smart TVs equipped with market-proven TVkey hardware based root of trust.

TVkey Cloud builds upon the existing TVkey specification deployed in the market today. While the TVkey system using external USB dongles is the reference for “one way” broadcast pay-TV solutions, the increased availability of Internet-connected Smart TVs opens up exciting new possibilities to combine the security capabilities of the TVkey embedded hardware in the TV with sophisticated security management systems in the cloud.

TVkey Cloud is open to a wide ecosystem of industry players, including conditional access vendors and TV manufacturers, and complies with MovieLabs requirements for Enhanced Content Protection of 4K, HDR, and early release content. Samsung will launch the first TVkey Cloud in its 2019 lineup of Smart TVs.

“With TVkey Cloud, we are enabling impulse purchase of pay-TV content on any Samsung Smart TV without requiring any additional hardware, lowering the subscription costs and removing entry barriers,” said Maurice Van Riek, SVP Content and Asset Security for NAGRA. “Consumers will be able to activate their pay-TV services instantly as part of the initial TV set-up, making it even easier than ever to access pay-TV services and enjoy their favorite programming on their new Samsung TV set. At the same time, it enables a no-CAPEX business model that gives service providers a cost-optimized path to a premium service.”

All new TVkey Cloud Smart TVs are fully compatible with TVkey USB dongles and will for the first time, allow consumers to immediately access premium broadcast content on their new Smart TV through a TV app with the ease of access as the established OTT service providers.

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