CableLabs has quietly issued a new set of interface specs that will provide the technical foundation for how MSOs and programmers authenticate and authorize video that is distributed online. CableLabs, which started it all in the form of a request for information (RFI), published the 64-page document on October 29...The specs -- collectively dubbed Online Content Access (OLCA) -- outline an interoperable protocol and architecture for the delivery of video to a multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) customer from different online sources. The specs don't limit the types of devices that can access the video, referencing TVs, PCs, and other mobile devices, but most US MSOs are starting off with TV Everywhere apps that are accessible on broadband-connected PCs...
Among other technologies, the specs call for the use of an
authentication architecture based on SAML 2.0, an XML-based protocol that defines a variety of app profiles
and standardizes the exchange of authentication and authorization data
between trusted domains -- in this instance, between operators and
programmers.
The specs also define the use of eXtensible Access Control Markup
Language (XACML) 2.0 to authorize subscriber requests to view a specific
piece of content. Both SAML 2.0 and XACML 2.0 are part of OASIS.
Read the complete article by Jeff Baumgartner in Light Reading Cable.
