Increase costs or push iOS users away: how dual on-the-fly encryption solves this dilemma

The rapidly evolving IPTV/OTT and streaming market presents a significant challenge to operators, who must ensure seamless and high-quality content playback across a range of end-user devices. This requires a delicate balance between investing in the content storage system to meet demands, and avoiding driving away users who may seek alternative options. In this dynamic and competitive landscape, companies must make a difficult choice between incurring increased costs, or risking losing a portion of their user base.

Aware of the challenge

DRM, or Digital Rights Management, is a vital aspect of video content consumption. It enforces security measures to control the usage of video content through encryption and licensing agreements.

This dilemma presents three potential paths for operators. The first is to avoid the solution, inciting a portion of their iOS user base to seek out offerings from competitors. 

The second option is to adopt Google’s solution, which relies on the Shaka player integrated into the operator’s app. However, this particular DRM system is beset by issues with indefinite fix dates.

The third option is to follow Apple’s suggestion and use the HLS and FairPlay bundle. However this means operators have to keep two separate versions of content: one – for bundle HLS and Apple FairPlay, another – for MPEG-DASH and Google Widevine, because they use different ways to encrypt. This makes storing content more expensive.

The operator is faced with a difficult decision: either spend more money to store their content or risk losing a large number of iOS users via unstable playback.

More efficient option

There is a more effective solution — performing on-the-fly re-encryption on a dedicated server. Initially, the content is encrypted for sending using the common MPEG-DASH and Google Widevine bundle. But when an iOS device requests it, the content is re-encrypted on-the-fly for streaming using the HLS and FairPlay bundle.

*Calculated for the 1-week TSTV service for 50 channels with adaptive bitrate: HD (4.5 Mbps) + SD (2 Mbps).