DTLA, Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., And Warner Bros. Announce First Studio License Agreements For Digital Home Network Technology

23-Jul-01

In a major step toward realization of the digital home entertainment environment, the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator, LLC (DTLA), Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. announced that they have entered into long-term license agreements to promote the all-digital home transmission and display of motion pictures and other video content using DTLA's Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP).Despite avid consumer adoption of digital entertainment products, consumers still watch analog signals from digital video products, such as DVD players and set-top boxes. Support for DTCP from Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. assures that consumers soon will enjoy high quality motion pictures on digital televisions over digital connections, in a fully digital home network.""Our agreements with Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures mark a watershed event in the transition to the all-digital home entertainment environment,"" said DTLA President Michael B. Ayers. ""Adoption of DTCP will unlock the real potential of consumer DVD players, digital set-top boxes, HDTV sets and digital disc and tape recorders. DTLA applauds Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. for their vision and commitment to bringing the home consumer the best digital experience from motion picture and television entertainment.""""For content providers, the creation of secure entertainment networks is key to the delivery of high value, high resolution motion picture content into the home,"" said Christopher J. Cookson, Executive Vice President/Chief Technology Officer of Warner Bros. ""The adoption of the DTCP technology is an important part of this process. We look forward to its implementation in the widest range of home entertainment products, opening a new era of greater consumer convenience, quality and choice.""""We are proud to be on the leading edge of our industry's efforts to bring the highest quality content transmission to audiences, while protecting the rights of the creative community,"" stated Jared Jussim, Executive Vice President of the Intellectual Property Department, Sony Pictures Entertainment. ""DTCP technology lays the foundation for a fully digital home network to the benefit of both consumers and the providers of entertainment content.""DTLA has signed more than 50 license agreements for DTCP with manufacturers of semiconductors, set-top cable and satellite boxes, and consumer electronics and personal computing products. The agreements with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. are the first licenses for use of DTCP by major motion picture studios.The agreements permit Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment to protect prerecorded media, pay-per-view and video-on-demand transmissions against unauthorized copying, and to protect all content against unauthorized Internet retransmission, while assuring consumers' ability to continue customary home recording of broadcast and subscription programming. The agreements support new, pro-consumer capabilities such as digitally displaying content paused on personal video recorders, moving copies from personal video recorders to removable digital tape or disc recordings, and transferring copies among servers located in different areas of the home.DTLA, also known as 5C, was formed in 1998 by five leading technology companies - Hitachi, Ltd., Intel Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation - to license their jointly-developed DTCP technology for protection of audiovisual and audio content against unauthorized interception or retransmission in the digital home environment. DTCP can be implemented over any high-speed bidirectional digital bus, including IEEE 1394 and Universal Serial Bus (USB) for the home, and the MOST network technology for automobiles.Further information about the technology and licensing of DTCP is available at the DTLA Web site, www.dtcp.com, or from License Management International, LLC at www.lmicp.com.

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