What They Say
The Deutsche TV-Plattform has launched a support initiative for the CI-Plus V2.0 system. The key development in version 2 is to support the use of external USB keys for decryption control.
What We Think
For those readers not involved in European TV, the CI slot was a standard slot to allow modules to be developed to decrypt content on a standardised basis. Different encryption schemes could be used and different modules supplied. The original CI slot was based on the old PCMCIA interface standard. Version 2 will remove the need for this slot and reduce the cost of providing different encryption. Famously, at one time in Italy, where the soccer clubs sold their matches through different providers, with different encryption platforms, viewers had to have different cards and fit them to watch the clubs. At that time, Samsung took a big share of the market by supplying TVs with dual slots just for use in Italy. I always used that as a great example of the granularity of the European TV market. (BR)
