Widevine® Announces Commercial Availability of DRM for Windows Media Player & Silverlight

Widevine Cypher® offers a content owner approved alternative to Windows Media DRM

SEATTLE. — Widevine Technologies, the only provider of multiformat, multiplatform DRM and digital copy protection solutions, today announced immediate availability of Widevine Cypher to protect content delivered to Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) Windows Media Player versions 9, 10, 11 and Silverlight versions 1 and 2. This milestone represents the first time content can be securely delivered in Windows Media, Silverlight and Adobe (Nasdaq “ADBE”) Flash environments using a single content protection solution.

Widevine Cypher now enables content owners, service providers and video operators to provide comprehensive DRM to secure the platforms and formats that best suit their consumer media requirements. The new release builds upon Widevine’s original Flash media support and the preview of Widevine DRM for Silverlight performed in conjunction with Microsoft at the NAB show earlier in April.

“Consumers want flexibility and choice when it comes to consuming content on a myriad of platforms while content providers have asked for a robust alternative to Windows Media DRM for several years,” said Brian Baker, Widevine CEO. “Widevine benefits both parties with a single DRM and digital copy protection solution that secures the business models for premium content delivered to consumers who can enjoy it on their preferred device.”

Widevine’s Cypher DRM client secures delivery and storage of content on Macs, PCs and Linux platforms and post-decryption where most piracy typically occurs. The client includes digital copy protection technology which further monitors, detects and responds to the hundreds of screen scraping and recording utilities available on the Internet. Many of these utilities can record content from a consumer device and store it as a downloadable file on the Internet. Increasingly, content owners are demanding this level of protection to prevent widespread piracy which costs the industry upwards of $6.1 billion* a year. Widevine first deployed the PC client to secure content delivered on a wide range of PC devices in 2000.

Widevine’s latest release is the first time a content owner approved alternative to Windows Media DRM has been available in order to meet widespread demand.