Sony Pictures Entertainment CTO Mitch Singer
thinks he’s found something consumers will
like more than free content—the UltraViolet digital
rights management system. Singer made that statement
during his keynote Q&A with Multichannel News
Editor-in-Chief Mark Robichaux at B&C and MCN’s TV
Everywhere & Anywhere: The Content Connection
event Sept. 22 at the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in
North Hollywood, Calif.
As president of the Digital Entertainment Content
Ecosystem (DECE), a consortium of film studios, technology
fi rms, retailers and pay-TV operators formed in
2008, Singer and the group worked to create UltraViolet,
a system that will standardize the digital delivery of
content to consumers.
UltraViolet is a rights authentication system, but its
focus is on cross-platform ownership of digital and
physical media. Ideally, UltraViolet, which DECE unveiled
in July, will allow consumers to purchase a TV
show, movie or even a book on multiple platforms. A single purchase would function as a token in a consumer’s
Digital Rights Locker to access that content on a variety of devices.
Singer pointed to the blossoming Millenial generation, which he says will represent about 64% of the
18-49 demo by 2014. “This is the generation that selected the MP3 over higher fidelity,” he said. “They’re
moving constantly, and they want to carry their libraries with them.”
DECE is looking to launch the system in about a year, but is unclear how many types of media it will
encompass by that point.
