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DRM on free-to-air TV?

This has to be one of the silliest things I've ever heard of.

In the USA, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced its intention to add digital rights management (DRM) to "free to air" (FTA) broadcasts.

If they get their way, a new standard called ATSC 3.0 will be applied to broadcast signals and manufacturers will need to license the technology in order to provide decoding capabilites. One source suggests that this could add up to US$80 to the price of a TV set that meets the standard.

It might be tempting to suggest that all content creators and distributors deserve the right to protect their intellectual property from unauthorised copying -- but that's not what this is about.

If implemented, this is pretty much a case of extorting licensing fees from manufacturers who will need to pay if they want their devices to even receive these DRM-enabled broadcasts.

But wait... it gets better...

We're increasingly seeing manufacturers and service providers changing the terms of a contract after it's forged.

You buy a product with feature-set X, Y and Z. Everything works fine for a while but one day you discover that, thanks to automatic software updates that happen quietly in the background, often without you giving permission or even being aware they're happening, suddenly feature Z disappears.

When this happens, you discover that in order to get feature Z back you must now sign up for a recurring monthly or annual subscription.

Owch!

This is increasingly happening with cars, home security/surveillance systems and other "intelligent" products. Although it has angered consumers and even triggered class-action lawsuits, consumer protection authorities seem to be unwilling to take action.

Now imagine once all FTA broadcasts are running with this DRM system onboard and the only devices you can use to watch those broadcasts have licensed decoder technology onboard.

You migth think that this is okay. The cost of climbing onboard that train is built into your TV set and it's effectively a one-time cost, valid for the life of the TV set itself.

Don't count on it.

There's absolutely nothing to stop the broadcaster or the TV set manufacturer from deciding that you've had too much of a good thing and there's simply too much money to be made by switching to a recurring subscription model.

One day you turn on your TV set and there's a message:

At that point, if you want to keep on watching those FTA broadcasts, you'll have to pay a monthly or annual fee to keep the decryption technology active.

Maybe it won't even be the DRM company or set manufacturer. Maybe it'll be the broadcaster and they'll be tempted by the ability to effectively turn their FTA channel into a pay-to-view one, simply by flicking a switch.

Just as likely, it could be the government of a country that decides this would be a great way to effectively re-instate the concept of TV licensing (just like in the 1970s). I suspect the BBC in the UK would jump at the opportunity to force everyone to pay the huge TV license fee that is charged in that country.

Yes, in an era where we're increasingly being forced from ownership to rental, by way of these subscription-based features, I have very little doubt that this new DRM standard for FTA broadcasts will be abused very quickly after it's rolled out.

Will I be writing another IToldYaSo column is a year or two?

Stay tuned and find out.

Carpe Diem folks!

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