Delayed CI+ update not expected until early 2015

The deployment of the delayed version 1.4 of CI+ is not now expected until early 2015, according to Neotion – one of the six founding firms behind the CI+ standard.

Speaking to DTVE, Neotion’s VP of technology and security Sébastien Dussutour said the delays were down to a number of technical and commercial reasons.

“The initial target was 2014 for the commercial deployment and now it will probably be the year after,” he said, citing, among other things the need for new TV chipsets dedicated to the new features of CI+ 1.4.

The first devices compliant with the CI+ 1.3 revision came out in summer 2012, with specifications for version 1.4 initially expected by the end of 2012 with deployments to follow by mid-2014.

The new specifications are now only expected to be finalised internally by DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting Project) members in the coming months and published by around September, said Dussutour.

Commenting on the delay, Peter Siebert, executive director of DVB told DTVE that the CI+ v1.4 specification is scheduled to be approved at the June meeting of the DVB Technical Module. However, he didn’t give a date for its commercial deployment.

He said that the hold up was due to “intensive technical discussions on various features.”

In 2011, CI Plus LLP – the organisation that was previously in charge of the standard and consisted of Sony, SmarDTV, Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, Neotion and SMiT –handed over responsibility for the CI+ specification to DVB to develop it beyond version 1.3.

DVB is an industry-led consortium of over 200 broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, software developers, regulatory bodies and others in more than 35 countries –which promises to open up CI+ to a much wider target market.

Version 1.4 is set to be a major overhaul of the system, with new features to include dual tuner and IP-delivered content support for the first time. It will also include improved app support, browser extensions and relaxed constraints on transcoding and watermarking.

Neotion product manager Nicolas Stefanelli said the 2011 DVB takeover of the standard was good news for the technology as it “opens the new standard to more opportunities for any service provider to support CI+.”

“CI+ in the future will probably continue to expand and to deploy in the market, not only for broadcast operators, but also for IPTV operators, because CI+ is now moving to be not only for broadcast services, but also for IPTV or OTT services.”