CD copy-protection specialist Macrovision is to work with Microsoft to ensure their respective DRM and anti-rip technologies are interoperable, the two companies said this week. Sounds straightforward enough, but the deal runs deeper. Microsoft agreed to license a number of Macrovision's patents, in particular those relating to analogue copy protection technology and more recent extensions to that system that cover video-on-demand, pay-per-view content and support for the US 'broadcast flag', which determines whether consumers will be able to record digital TV broadcasts.............
"An Internet-delivered movie, downloaded to a PC, can now be protected on analog video playback out of a PC," the two companies claimed. The deal also signals MS' interest in building pay-per-view, VoD and support for other approaches to content delivery into Windows, the better to turn Media Center PCs into the jack-of-all-trades home entertainment systems MS wants them to be............. Read on at TheReg

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