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Discover Digital engages MS for IPTV

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 14 May 2014

Discover Digital, a South African digital entertainment business, is another step closer to launching its Internet TV offering by mid-2014.

Microsoft's PlayReady Digital Content Management solution has been integrated into Discover Digital's Transactional Video on Demand and Subscription Video on Demand technology offering.

Last month, Discover Digital acquired the streaming, download and electronic sell-through rights to SA's premier national motorcycle racing category, the Monster Energy SuperGP Champions Trophy.

The acquisition came on the back of Discover Digital's development and agency partnership with Ireland's Digisoft.tv, announced in November last year.

Stephen Watson, co-founder and executive director at Discover Digital, says that the company's decision to use only best-of-breed solutions is bearing fruit.

"Microsoft PlayReady is used to manage and protect our content for OTT Internet TV and for the content kiosk rental system we developed, which allows unconnected consumers to rent content on demand at convenient kiosks and download them onto a USB stick to watch on our set-top box," he explains.

Rob McAuley, director of business development at Microsoft PlayReady, says the solution is widely used to protect premium content services including Netflix, Sky Go and Ultraviolet and was recognised by Frost & Sullivan as arguably the most widely trusted DRM technology platform system in the industry, not only from a security point of view but also in terms of functionality, scalability and reliability.

"We are very excited to be working with Discover Digital and Digisoft.tv, in particular we welcome their innovative use of PlayReady Technology to open up an entirely new markets for TV services," comments McAuley.

Discover Digital's middleware was developed by Ireland's Digisoft.tv, a Microsoft PlayReady partner.

Watson highlights the progress Discover Digital has made, having advanced to live streaming tests.

"The Monster Energy SuperGP Champions Trophy was broadcast live earlier this month with no reported glitches. We conducted low-key tests with no promotion and surprisingly had more unique views than anticipated from no less than 15 countries watching the race," he says.

"We are excited about the progress made, the design and build of our set-top box is complete and the necessary facilities for our head-end infrastructure and data centre have been acquired in Sandton, Johannesburg," he concludes.

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