Netflix officially announced support for the Wii earlier this week, then appeared in the news again today with this little tidbit:
Netflix has licensed Irdeto’s Cloakware Embedded Security content-protection software, which the movie-rental company will use as part of expanding the array of devices that are able to stream TV shows and movies over the Internet.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. With Irdeto’s Cloakware technology, Netflix said it will “continue to expand its offerings to more popular consumer devices.”
Currently, the Netflix Internet-streaming feature is available on about a dozen devices, including Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii gaming console, TiVo DVRs, Apple’s iPad tablet, and HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players from Samsung, LG and Sony.
“As we looked to proactively enhance our content offerings, Irdeto with its Cloakware security technology, was a natural choice to support our commitment to digital content protection,” Netflix vice president of business development Bill Holmes said in a statement.
Netflix uses digital rights management systems from Microsoft and Widevine Technologies. Irdeto is “not proposing to change these,” but instead will layer additional capabilities around Netflix’s existing security measures, said Jan Steenkamp, Irdeto’s vice president of Americas.
“What Netflix needs to do to implement content security in a consistent way, to apply it to all the instances and devices,” Steenkamp said.
Irdeto, which has headquarters in Beijing and Amsterdam, employs 850 people around the world. The company is a subsidiary of South African media conglomerate Naspers.
Netflix Adds Irdeto To Protect Streaming Video – 2010-04-13 15:00:00 | Multichannel News
The conglomerate confusion with Napster aside, anyone else think a company with headquarters in China is a suspicious choice for a digital video security solution? Good thing this news arrived after Netflix locked up 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Universal Studios Home Entertainment to distribution deals last week. Happy viewing!
Tags: Netflix, Nintendo, Watch Instantly, wii
After the Transition 
April 14, 2010 at 2:43 am |
Just to clarify. Yes Netflix uses Widevine as one of their DRM suppliers. However the Cloakware software is not used on the Widevine DRM. We susppect it is to be used on the Microsoft DRM.
Widevine uses guards for Arxan (and others) NOT Cloakware.